Situated at the east end of the Esplanade, Barnhill Rock Gardens is a favourite place for residents and visitors to go and sit. It was once entirely run by Dundee City Council but following a cutback it is now run in partnership with the Barnhill Rock Gardens Association - a hardy band of people who now tend the gardens. It is beautiful - even in winter.
There are two iron bridges over the Dighty Burn just north of Broughty Ferry (near Linlathen House Nursing Home). The Linlathen East Bridge is the older of the two and is thus historically the more important. A housing development is currently being built nearby and as part of this these bridges are to be restored.
It was brought to our attention by Dundee Civic Trust who held a meeting, the speaker being Roland Paxton of Heriot Watt University who has been involved a similar campaign to save the world's oldest surviving railway viaduct near Kilmarnock.
Professor Paxton outlined why Linlathen East Bridge should be refurbished and his hopes that he could encourage a local initiative which is essential if the refurbishment of one of Scotland's most historic bridges is to be achieved.
Broughty Ferry Community Council are delighted that these bridges, the Linlathen East Bridge - Scotland's oldest surviving bridge has saved.
Category
A. Date of listing 29.10.91 Map ref
NO 4638 3285
Circa
1795-1810. Single arch light estate bridge. Wrought with some cast-iron coursers
and ashlar buttresses. Segmental arch with spandrels formed by plain concentric
circles diminishing in size towards crown of arch, linked by tie bars at soffit;
parapet of plain quatrefoils with fencing added later. Timber decking and
springing points have been raised, reducing the camber. Buttresses slope back
from river and have balustraded splays ( balistrade extant at NE and SW only).
North buttress has small round-headed arch over silted flood channel.
References:
Plan
of Linlathen by James Sime, 1827, Dundee University Archives, 17P 198
Sir
Francis Mudie and David M Walker ‘Mains Castle and the Grahams of Fintry’
(1964)
Ted
Ruddock, ‘Arch Bridges and their Builders’ (1979)
Neil
Cossons, ‘BP Book of Industrial Archaeology’ (1987)
Barrie
Trinder ‘The First Iron Bridges’ in Archeology Review III, No 2 (Spring
1979)
Notes:
Linlathen
House was built for David Graham in 1705 and extended for Thomas Erskine by
William Sterling in circa 1830. The steading was dated 1770. This bridge is
probably that shown on the 1827 plan of the estate which may have replaced an
earlier (circa? 1770) bridge built to give independent access to the steading,
avoiding the drives to Linlathen House. The bridge appears to follow the 1795
patent of Richard Burdon MP, employed on its largest scale at Sunderland in
1796. The patent involved separate cast-iron voussoirs held together by
wrought-iron straps instead of the ribs being cast complete (as at Ironbridge).
Two other bridges are known to survive involving this patent at Spanishtown
Jamaica, and the solid looking Tickford Bridge, Newport Pagnall (1810) The first
large iron bridge in Europe near Wroclow in Silesia (1794-6) similarly had
spandrels filled with diminishing rings meeting at a central keystone. The
latter was by a Scottish engineer from Carron Iron works, John Baildon
Pending
documentary information, the Linlathen bridge appears to date from about
1795-1810 and will be the oldest iron bridge in Scotland, and amongst the oldest
in the world. The extensive Graham of Fintry papers (SRO), GD151) might contain
information regarding this bridge; only a brief examination of these papers was
possible for this list entry.
Linlathen West Bridge Over the Dighty Water
Category
A. Date of listing 29.10.91 Map ref
NO 4604 3265
Earlier
19th century. Single arch road bridge. Smooth, rusticated and
corniced ashlar sandstone buttresses, 4 cast-iron elliptically-arched ribs, with
cast-iron ‘keystone’ masking central joint at outer ribs, spandrels formed
by 7 decorative concentric circular motifs. Cast iron balustrade with die at center
and cornice continuing from stone cornice at buttresses. Decking has Macadamed
surface.
References:
Plan
of Linlathen by James Sime, 1827, Dundee University Archives, 17P 198
OS
map 1857-58
Sir
Francis Mudie and David M Walker ‘Mains Castle and the Grahams of Fintry’
(1964)
Notes:
Linlathen
House was built for David Graham in 1705 and extended for Thomas Erskine by
William Sterling in circa 1830; the house was finally demolished in the 1980s.
The south drive, lodge and gates (listed separately) together with this bridge
appear on the 1857-8 OS map but not on the 1827 plan of the estate. It is
therefore likely that they were all constructed following the extension of
Linlathen House in circa 1830.