Coldstream, Coldstream Bridge

Spandrel walls cracked, reconstructed with arched cavities

Arches strengthened with reinforced concrete.

At Coldstream, between 1763 and 1767, John Smeaton built a fine 7 arch bridge across the Tweed, much higher and with flatter arches than the earlier bridges. The 5 main, segmental arches are bounded either side by semi-circular flood arches, and whilst the arches themselves are of well-dressed stone, the spandrels (those areas above and between) are rubble-built The flood relief holes high in the spandrels have been filled in; above them a line of corbels protrude below the parapet The bridge was widened in 1962.

Coldstream derived its original importance from its ford-the first of any consequence above Berwick, it is sometimes said, though that at Ladykirk was also significant On the English side of the border, splendid castles at Wark and Norham respectively commanded access to each ford. Just east of Wark is the site of the battle of Car ham where Malcolm II's victory over the Anglian Northumbrians led to the adoption of the Tweed as the national frontier from 1018. A few kilometres south-east by contrast, the Scots were decimated in 1513 at Flodden Field (NT 890370). This was the route chosen, therefore, by so many armies, Scottish and English. Even today there is no further bridge upstream before John Rennie's magnificent

creation at Kelso, built 1800-3 (NT 728336).

Until an Act of Parliament in 1856 forbade clandestine weddings,Coldstream was an eastern equivalent of Gretna Green. Runaway marriages from England were contracted in the toll-house-the one-storey building, with extension, immediately north on the east side of the bridge.

Information from 'Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Lothian and Borders', (1985).

This project was undertaken to input site information listed in 'Civil engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' by R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.

iThe earliest of three large masonry bridges designed and built under John Smeaton’s direction. It was erected

across the Tweed from 1762–67 and has five segmental arches with three different spans built to the same radius so that the centring could be reused. This practice resulted in spans from the sides to the centre of 58 ft, 60 ft 5 in. and 68 ft 8 in. producing an attractive elevation and acceptable road gradients. The decorative circles in the spandrels, that suggest transverse cavities to lighten the load on the piers, originally concealed a cavity in the direction of the road filled with loose material. By 1828 the spandrel walls had become cracked and off-plumb and they were reconstructed with arched cavities between on Sir John Rennie’s advice. The foundations are protected from scour by surrounds known as ‘starlings’, originally of rubble stone but now of concrete. As a further precaution the cauld, or dam, downstream was built in 1785 to provide a stilling pool at the piers. The major flood levels and their dates are recorded on the north abutment.n 1960 the arches were strengthened with reinforced concrete below the roadway which was widened over the spandrel walls by the addition of cantilevered footways.

R Paxton and J Shipway 2007

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering Heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.

Visibility: Standing structure or monument.

Information from Scottish Borders Council