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Thurso Bridge

Road Bridge (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Thurso Bridge

Classification Road Bridge (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) River Thurso

Canmore ID 8481

Site Number ND16NW 59

NGR ND 11769 68170

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/8481

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Highland
  • Parish Thurso
  • Former Region Highland
  • Former District Caithness
  • Former County Caithness

Archaeology Notes

ND16NW 59 11769 68170

Thurso Bridge [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1985.

For (predecessor) Thurso, Old Bridge (ND c. 1176 6817), see ND16NW 392.

(Location cited as ND 117 682). Thurso Bridge, built c. 1880. A masonry bridge, with four segmental arches on slender piers, with semi-octagonal cutwaters.

J R Hume 1977.

Thurso Bridge, by Macbey & Gordon, 1885-7. Four segmental arches with pacifist-looking semi-octagonal cutwaters.

J Gifford 1992.

This bridge carries the A882 (T) public road over the River Thurso on the SE side of the town of Thurso (ND16NW 65).

The location assigned to this record defines the midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence indicates that it extends from ND c. 11741 68193 to ND c. 11820 68128.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 5 April 2006.

Architecture Notes

Reference - Edinburgh Room, Central Library, Edinburgh, George Burn

Thurso. Bridge over River Thurso, 1800 (Caithness) Burn was architect and contractor

(Edinburgh Evening Courant, Sept 4, 1800)

Activities

Photographic Record (October 1961)

Photographic survey of buildings in Thurso, Caithness by the Scottish National Buildings Record in October 1961.

Publication Account (2007)

Thurso Bridge

(Institute Civil Engineers Historic Engineering Works no. HEW 1557)

The first road bridge at Thurso, over the Thurso, was built in 1800, replacing local fords, by local mason Robert Tulloch and had three semicircular arches with oculi over the piers. It served the town well until 1886, when a misguided attempt to widen its narrow roadway resulted in the collapse of the central arch. It was replaced by the present bridge of four segmental arches. A commemorative plaque on the present bridge states that it was formally opened on 3 May 1887. The engineers were MacBey and Gordon, Elgin, and the contractor was John Malcolm.

The first substantial bridge over the Thurso was built at Halkirk in 1731 by Sir George Sinclair of Ulbster in an attempt to establish an inland market centre there.

R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.

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