Achingale Bridge
Road Bridge (19th Century)
Site Name Achingale Bridge
Classification Road Bridge (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Wick River; Watten, Bridge; Greystones Bridge
Canmore ID 92010
Site Number ND25SW 50
NGR ND 24348 54307
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/92010
- Council Highland
- Parish Watten
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Caithness
- Former County Caithness
ND25SW 50 24358 54307
Achingale Bridge [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map, 1994.
Not to be confused with Achingale Mill Bridge (2405 5351), for which see ND25SW 26.
(Location cited as ND 243 543). Achingale Bridge, Watten, built 1812-17, engineer Thomas Telford. A handsome rubble bridge with three segmental arches.
J R Hume 1977.
This simple but handsome Telford bridge has three segmental spans, narrow voussoirs, and triangular cutwaters protected by metal covers. It is situated on a curve of the A882 road where it crosses a wide valley and a rushy field.
G Nelson 1990.
This bridge carries the A882(T) public road over the Wick River to the SE of Watten village (ND25SW 71).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 6 May 1998.
Construction (1816)
Designed and building overseen by Thomas Telford.
R PAxton and J Shipway, 2007
Publication Account
Greystones Bridge, Watten
(Institute Civil Engineers Historic Engineering Works no. HEW 1667)
Sometimes known as Achingale Bridge, this bridge, carrying the A882 Thurso to Wick Road over the Acharole Burn, is a good Caithness example of a three-arch Telford bridge. Its segmental rubble/flat-stone masonry arches are of 26 ft, 28 ft, 26 ft span. The bridge, built in 1816, was widened from 1931–33 by 6 ft on the north side to provide a roadway width of 24 ft 4 in.
Two miles west of Greystones Bridge, at Watten on the same road, is Oldhall Bridge over a burn, built from 1815–19 under Telford’s general direction and now bypassed and deteriorating. It consists of a single semicircular arch about 16 ftwide and 24 ft high with an arch-ring of Caithness flagstones about 2 ft deep, paved invert, random rubble spandrels and approach retaining walls in similar stone. The roadway is 18 ft wide.
Both bridges were erected as part of the improvement of the Thurso road. The surveyor was H. Fulton and the contractor J. Traill Esq. and others. Great difficulty was experienced in letting a contract for this 20 mile length of road which, at the then large sum of £13 365, cost about 30% more than the estimate.
R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
