Girder Bridge, Crathie, Balmoral Estates

Heritage listing

Category A Date Added 02/11/1976 Local Authority Aberdeenshire Planning Authority Aberdeenshire Parish Crathie And Braemar National Park Cairngorms NGR NO 26210 94923 Coordinates 326210, 794923 — Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer 1856-8. R Brotherhood, Chippenham, Wilts, ironfounder. Dated 1856. Single span wrought iron plate girder bridge with regularly pierced iron-plate parapets and distinctive visible riveting. Coursed rock-faced granite abutments with capped square granite piers and curved granite approach walls. — This is possibly the earliest plate-girder bridge in Scotland and was designed by the distinguished engineer I. K. Brunel, who described it as 'built on the principle of the Tubular Bridge over the Menai Strait'. A plaque on the parapet is inscribed 'R Brotherhood Chippenham Wiltshire'. The bridge was built under an Act of Parliament to give access to Balmoral Castle after the Royal family closed the nearby Crathie Suspension Bridge, (see separate listing) which was felt not to be sufficiently robust for vehicular traffic. Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59), was a leading, innovative Victorian engineer. As chief engineer to the Great Western Railway in 1833, he was involved in a number of projects including railway tracks and tunnels, as well as bridges and ships. His works include the Clifton Suspension Bridge of 1831-59 and the Saltash Bridge, Devon (1857-59) Change of Category from B to A, (13th May 1994).

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.