Garvamore, Garva Bridge

A two-span bridge constructed by General Wade to carry the military road from Dalwhinnie to Fort Augustus across the River Spey. The central portion rests on a rock in midstream. The rubble construction, the narrow carriageway and low parapet are typical of Wade bridges, but it has since been strengthened with buttresses and iron braces. General Wade's accounts for 1731 include an item of £466 'For building Five Stone Bridges one of two Arches and 4 of one Arch'; the two-arched bridge being this at Garva.

The narrow road that leads from Laggan to Garva Bridge follows closely the line of the military road. Beside the road, a short distance east of the bridge, is the Kingshouse at Garvamore (NN 528943), now unfortunately in bad repair. Here, as in other places, a hutted or tented camp used for the troops who built the road was replaced by a building used both for military and civilian travellers, which later became an inn. These buildings were known as 'kingshouses' because they stood on the king's highway. This one is thought to date ftom around 1740. It is a long, two-storey slated range with three chimneys, the western end having stables below and a loft with fireplace above, probably for troops, while the single-storey block at the east end and the porches are later additions. Inside (not accessable) is an old wooden staircase with turned banisters and carved newel posts. A box bed removed from here is stored in the West Highland Museum at Fort William.

The military road from Dalwhinnie to Garva Bridge followed the line of the A89 to Laggan as far as Catlodge, where it was joined by a road from Ruthven barracks to the north. It then continued south of the Spey to join the present road to Garva near the Spey dam. There is a good example of a small Wade bridge where this road crossed the Mashie Burn (NN 600935) and another bridge stands in a field beside the modern road (NN 554931). From Garva Bridge the military road went on over the hills to Fort Augustus, climbing the Corrieyairack pass by a series of zig-zags or traverses, originally eighteen but later reduced to thirteen, and each retained by a stone wall on the outside. This is one of the best known, if not the most typical, of Wade roads. It is still possible to drive to Melgarve, just past Garva, beyond which is a rough walk of some 19km to Fort Augustus.

A contemporary traveller who crossed the Corrieyairack in 1731 recorded 'I heard the noise of many people and saw six great fires, about each of which a number of soldiers were busy ... I found in all about five hundred nen, who had this summer, with indefatigable pains, completed the great road for wheel-carriages between Fort Augustus and Ruthven . . . General Wade had given to each detatchment an ox-feast, and liquor; six oxen were roasted whole, one at the head of each party.'

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).