A PDF version is available here.
This month has been a bit heavy, I have been in and out of hospital and am now waiting for a biopsy result on something that isn’t thought to be cancer. I don’t want to miss a month but this will be short and sweet.
I have driven past this little bridge a few times, but never when I had time to stop for more than a couple of minutes. It is here on Gala Water, beside the A7. It is old, neglected and rather sad.
It is known locally as the bridge to heaven. The A7 is behind me in this picture but didn’t exist when the bridge was built. The church was on this side and the village, as you can see, on the other, so people needed the bridge to get to church.
It is a classic Scottish rural bridge, selected stone voussoirs rather than dressed and random rubble walls. There are two flood arches on the far side and they are often submerged. If we look from the other side we can see the results of flooding and neglect.
What was left of the flood span was getting close to collapse before it was lifted back to shape as well as possible and had a concrete ring cast beneath. Not pretty, but reasonably robust, effective and cheap. There is a nice squinch in the near corner, enlarged somewhat below. The enlargement shows the stone of the arch to good effect.
A closer view of the concrete lined arch is also worthwhile.
The loss of material also extends to the second flood arch.
As I said, a pretty little bridge with a decent noticeboard describing its history. There is a second board but my photo of it is unreadable.
That is March and number 123. Lets hope for a slightly better world by the end of April.