Hamilton, Carlisle Road, Avon Bridge
Road Bridge (19th Century)
Site Name Hamilton, Carlisle Road, Avon Bridge
Classification Road Bridge (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Avon Water; Ferniegair
Canmore ID 45730
Site Number NS75SW 13
NGR NS 73510 54768
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/45730
- Council South Lanarkshire
- Parish Hamilton (South Lanarkshire)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Hamilton
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS75SW 13.00 73510 54768
(NS 7351 5475) Avon Bridge (NAT)
OS 1:10000 map (1978).
NS75SW 13.01 NS 73528 54718 Tollhouse (50 Carlisle Road).
For (predecessor) Old Avon Bridge (NS 73322 54637), see NS75SW 9.
Location formerly entered as NS 7351 5475 to NS 7353 5471, and as centred NS 73510 54768.
(Location cited as NS 735 547). Avon Bridge and Tollhouse, built 1820, engineer Thomas Telford. A single segmental arch of dressed stone construction. The tollhouse is pleasing a one- storey and basement ashlar structure, with a bow front, recently tile-roofed.
J R Hume 1976
This bridge carries Carlisle Road across the River Avon to the SE of Hamilton (NS75NW 44).
The location assigned to this record defines the midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence indicates that it extends from NS c. 73498 54782 to NS c. 73516 54758.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 25 May 2006.
See also, NS75SW 73528 54718 13.01, Avon Bridge Tollhouse.
Construction (1823 - 1825)
On the route of the Telford designed Glasgow and Carlisle Road (LAnarkshire section built 1815-25).
Project (2007)
This project was undertaken to input site information listed in 'Civil engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' by R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Publication Account (2007)
A striking single-span dressed stone structure with a segmental arch of 81 1/2 ft span and 20 ft rise designed by Telford and built from 1823–25. The arch ring is 3 ft thick and the roadway about 45 ft above the river bed. The spandrels are hollow in accordance with Telford’s practice for large spans, with longitudinal, parallel-sided walls and four covered cavities extending from the arch upwards to just under the roadway. There is a 12 ft wide semicircular arch accommodation span alongside.
Although partly bypassed by the M74 motorway in 1969, this bridge still carries the A72 trunk road joining Larkhall and Lanark. A toll house still exists at the east end of the bridge (NS75SW 13.01).
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
