Bruce Keith’s personal journey through history celebrating Scotland’s bridge-building heritage was the subject of his talk to a recent meeting of Largs Probus Club. His book “Bridgescapes” was completed in time for the opening of the tallest bridge in Britain, the Queensferry Crossing, in 2017 and detailed the importance of bridges through the ages with excellent photographs by Lewis Matheson. His father had been a bridge engineer working in Nigeria before joining Inverness County Council and he shared childhood memories of visits to Skye including ferry trips across Loch Alsh so he was very interested when the new “bridge over the Atlantic” was built – the Skye Bridge.
He spoke on the importance of bridges for military purposes, Stirling Bridge being the key to the Highlands and of strategic importance as the lowest crossing point over the River Forth. William Wallace won a famous victory over King Edward 1 there in 1297. Scotland’s earliest surviving single-arch bridge is the Brig o’ Balgownie across the Don (c.1320) while the Auld Brig in Dumfries (1432) is the longest surviving medieval bridge.
General George Wade was the first promoter of a strategic network in 1724, with 250 miles of road and 40 bridges built using military labour over a period of 12 years aimed at quelling any Jacobite revival.
Wade’s successor Major William Caulfeild outdid him by building 900 miles of road and 600 bridges including ones at Feshie, Dulsie and Invercauld.
John Smeaton gave us Coldstream across the Tweed with oculi to lighten its weight and give an improved appearance, with similar bridges at Perth and Banff. When David Henderson bridged Pease Glen on the future A1 in 1786, he created what was then the highest bridge in the world. Captain Samuel Brown’s Union Chain Bridge built in 1820 across the Tweed remains the world’s oldest surviving suspension bridge to convey vehicles. He also built the Wellington Bridge at Aberdeen. James M Gale built the 22 aqueducts that conveyed water from Loch Katrine to the City of Glasgow and another aqueduct, the Falkirk Wheel, has become the world’s largest rotating ship lift and is a worthy addition to the list of great Scottish bridges.
Bruce spoke on the design and construction of bridges, from planks to spectacular icons showing photographs of each type from beam, truss, arch, suspension, cable-stayed and cantilever.
He drew attention to those who built the bridges who are all too often forgotten while the engineers and contractors get the glory. The Forth Rail Bridge is an exception, with memorials at both ends to the “briggers” who died during its construction.
With humour and enthusiasm, Bruce gave an abundance of information on modern day bridges from the opening in 1971 of the Erskine Bridge, the longest cable-stayed in the world at the time; the Kessock in 1982, deploying seismic buffers due to its position on a fault line, Donald Fraser delivering the Kylesku, Oresund and the Queensferry Crossing; and the “squinty bridge” at Finnieston across the Clyde.
Donald Fraser also delivered the Clackmannanshire Bridge which opened in 2008 and is the second-longest incrementally-launched bridge in the world. Bruce could have spoken for hours on a subject he clearly revelled in and received a hearty vote of thanks from Roddy Eunson, himself an Apprentice Engineer who worked on the Kingston Bridge.
Two extra bridges, that weren’t in the talk but were mentioned at question time.
The Govan-Partick swing bridge will carry pedestrians and cyclists over the River Clyde.
Why not join us?
New members are always welcomed at the Club. If you are 50 or over, retired, or nearing retirement, (men only, I’m afraid, sorry ladies) you can attend three meetings as a guest and find out what a relaxed and friendly time we have. That’s plenty of time to decide whether to become a Club member or not. Please check out our programme and email info@largsprobus.org.uk if you wish to attend as a guest, or to enquire about joining.
Largs Probus Club will next meet on Wednesday 30th April at 10:00am within the Willowbank Hotel, when Sandra Savona will speak on Home Instead.