Lanark, Lanark Road, Cartland Bridge
Road Bridge (19th Century)
Site Name Lanark, Lanark Road, Cartland Bridge
Classification Road Bridge (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Cartland Craig's Bridge; Mouse Water
Canmore ID 46638
Site Number NS84SE 71
NGR NS 86871 44480
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/46638
- Council South Lanarkshire
- Parish Lanark
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Clydesdale
- Former County Lanarkshire
NS84SE 71.00 86871 44480
NS84SE 71.01 86945 44468 Tollhouse
NMRS REFERENCE
Architect: Thomas Telford. Completed 1822.
NMRS PRINTROOM
Photographs of Lanarkshire scenery by J M'Ghie, Hamilton, published by W Ritchie, Edinburgh. Inscribed 1867 ac no 1990/34
pg 18 single arch bridge called 'Roman bridge' over Mouse Water, in the background an arch of the later bridge.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
(Location cited as NS 869 444). Cartland Bridge, built 1822, engineer Thomas Telford. A beautiful 3-span, dressed-stone bridge with semicircular arches on slender piers. The socketsfor the centring can be seen near the tops of the piers. Concrete footpaths have been cantilevered out.
Can only be properly viewed in winter, owing to tall trees in the valley.
J R Hume 1976.
This bridge carries Lanark Road, which here forms the A73(T), over the Mouse Water to the WNW of Lanark (NS84SE 75).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 24 Febaruary 2006.
Construction (1821 - 1822)
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)
This is an imposing bridge carrying the A73 about 129 ft above the Mouse Water at Cartland Crags, about a mile
to the north-west of Lanark. The bridge, designed by Telford and built by William Minto as a subcontractor to John Gibb in 1821–22, with Henry Welch as inspector, has three 50 ft semicircular arch spans springing from neat abutments founded on solid rock. Its slender piers are of ashlar masonry, slightly ornamented with recesses on each face, the line of which extends through the spandrels to relieve their plainness with the suggestion of a pilaster – a good example of Telford’s aesthetic approach to design in detail, although less dramatic than his later use of ascititious [additional or supplemental] arches.
The contract sum was £4425, considerably less than the cost of a Telford/Hazledine standard cast-iron lozenge lattice spandrel bridge span (at Tewkesbury ca.1825 the 170 ft span ironwork alone cost £4500), which is presumably why Telford did not use one here. Telford also designed the tollhouse.
Originally the bridge was about 22 ft wide between parapets but, in 1959–60, a reinforced concrete deck was
introduced and a 5 ft wide footpath cantilevered out on the north side to the design of Babtie, Shaw and Morton,
Glasgow.
In 1995 the bridge’s future was ensured by rock stabilization of the abutment foundations, work which attracted a Saltire Civil Engineering Awards conservation commendation on the recommendation of the Scottish Group of PHEW [Panel for Historic Engineering Works].
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
