Craigellachie Bridge

The Craigellachie Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge located at Craigellachie.

It was designed by the renowned civil engineer Thomas Telford and built from 1812–1814. The bridge has a single span of approximately 46m (151ft) and was revolutionary for its time, in that it used an extremely slender arch which was not possible using traditional masonry construction.

At each end of the structure there are two 15m (49ft) high masonry mock-medieval towers, featuring arrow slits and miniature crenellated battlements.

The bridge was in regular use until 1963, when it was closed for a major refurbishment. The side railings and spandrel members were replaced with new ironwork fabricated to match the originals. A 14 ton restriction was placed on the bridge at this point. This, along with the fact that the road to the north of the bridge takes a sharp right-angled turn to avoid a rock face, made it unsuitable for modern vehicles and it was closed to vehicles in the early 1970’s when the modern concrete bridge was opened. It is still possible to cross the bridge on foot.