Lanark-Muirkirk Railway Bridge

Heritage listing

Category B Date Added 03/11/1992 Local Authority South Lanarkshire Planning Authority South Lanarkshire Parish Lanark NGR NS 89902 42441 Coordinates 289902, 642441 — Circa 1873. Skewed cast-iron arch bridge, open spandrel, with 4 ribs and solid cast-iron plate parapets with broad panels separated by narrow strips with rounded heads. Faces of external arch ribs decorated with moulded strips to emphasise arch form. Massive stone abutments, wing walls and associated parapets of bull-faced ashlar, with polished string course at road level and polished copes. Terminal pilasters and dies. — A good unaltered example of a cast-iron arch railway overbridge. A similar bridge of the same date on the Lanark branch still carries the main road traffic, but has had its parapets reduced. The bridge carried what was the main access roadway from the Hyndford Road (A73) into the Bonnington Estate, passing Bonnington Mains Farm en route to Bonnington House. It also carried traffic to Robbiesland Farm which was also originally part of the estate. Maps indicate that there were several tracks in to the estate, the tourist route being that from the S end of New Lanark and on which there was a gatekeeper who issued tickets. The earliest part of this railway was constructed by the Lanark Railway Line but it was taken over by the Caledonian Railway in 1855. The Lanark to Douglas branch opened on 1 April 1864 and the extension to Muirkirk over which this bridge spanned was opened for goods on 1 January 1873 and for passengers on 1 June 1874. List description updated 2010.

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.