The Bridges of Abernethy – 200 years on

The bridge in the centre of our village has been a focal point for as long as any of us can remember.  Those of us who attended Abernethy Primary (or Junior Secondary) School were taught at an early age that it was designed by Thomas Telford, but how many of us know that it was just one of four in the parish, all still in use today, designed by the famous engineer?

This autumn marks the bicentenary of the completion of the four bridges: one over the Aultmore, near the East Church; the culvert across the burn in the middle of the Golf Course; the bridge across the Duack on the Boat of Garten side of the village, and the main bridge with its three impressive arches.  Although one of these arches was swept away 19 years later, in the great flood of 1829, it was quickly replaced.  The scheme involving these bridges also involved construction of about a mile of new road, the straight stretch which takes us from just before the hotel to just beyond Mondhuie.

The bridge of 1810 was not the first to span the Nethy.  Another bridge had been built about 100 yards upriver opposite Culvardie, around the end of the 18^th century.  This was, however, swept away by the floods of the time which, apparently, were also responsible for changing the course of the river.  Although no trace of this earlier bridge remains, the name “Old Bridge End” is still used for the area.

The construction of both old and new bridges was organised by “The Good Sir James”, the landowner and chief of Clan Grant at the time, who received his nickname because, while other Highland landlords were clearing the population from the land, Sir James was intent on improving the area for his tenants.  In 1765, he had established the new town of Grantown, with a fledgling textile industry, and he had placed tenants in farms around the area, encouraging them to adopt modern agricultural practices, such as growing turnips and adding lime to the soil.

The four new bridges, and the new road which connected them, were all part of a scheme to improve communications in the North of Scotland, for which the Government had commissioned Thomas Telford, the greatest British engineer of the time, and which included such famous projects as the Caledonian Canal and the iron bridge at Craigellachie.  Visiting an exhibition of Telford’s work in Edinburgh a few years ago, I was excited to see, as part of a huge spread of designs for bridges across the Highlands, one for “a bridge across the Nethy in Strathspey” – proving to my satisfaction that Nethy school-teachers had told us the truth!

Telford himself was Scottish, having been born in Westerkirk, Dumfries-shire, the son of a poor shepherd.  He was apprenticed to a stonemason and moved to Edinburgh, then London, where he was involved in building an addition to Somerset House.  He went on to design roads, bridges, canals and dockyards all over Britain and abroad, with the Menai Suspension Bridge being one of the most famous. 

So it was to the commissioners of the North of Scotland scheme that the Good Sir James turned for help with the bridges in Abernethy.  The commissioners agreed to meet 50% of the cost, which left Sir James to raise the other half.  In order to help him with this, subscription lists were circulated in the area, under the supervision of schoolmaster William Macdonald.  Among the 211 subscribers in the parish of Abernethy, were some names which are still familiar today, including James Rattray, Lynamer, who contributed ten shillings (50p); John Black, Clachaig, seven shillings (35p) , and Joseph McCook, farm overseer at Balliemore, five shillings (25p).  In all, 166 pounds, seven shillings and sixpence was contributed towards the total cost of 1385 pounds, 10 shillings and one halfpenny.

It is recorded that Telford himself visited the site on June 2, 1809, and by the end of that month had sent plans and estimates of the bridges to the commissioners’ headquarters in Edinburgh.  A Kingussie mason, John Eason, was put in daily charge of the first season’s work, under the supervision of Telford’s inspector, John Mitchell.

Preparing the sites began before the end of August, 1809, but Mitchell advised Sir James that, with the approach of winter, the principal bridge should not be carried beyond the springs of the arches until the following year’s building season.   The construction of the arches, therefore, was under the charge of Moray man Thomas Urquhart, who had replaced Eason.  Some of the masons involved in the work had to be brought from as far as Perth, but most of the labour, skilled as well as unskilled, was local, with another McCook, Lewis, featuring among the labourers.

By November 1810, the road and the four supporting bridges were complete, which seems a pretty impressive timescale compared with some of today’s building schemes!  Sir James only just lived to see his project to completion, as he died three months later.  In the years that followed, shops tended to cluster around the main bridge, while the railway line was brought to just below it and the hotel was constructed nearby, making Telford’s creation the focal point of the village as we know it today.  We could therefore almost consider this to be the foundation of Nethy Bridge as a village, as opposed to the rather scattered community of Abernethy which had been around for several centuries before.

So the next time you play a game of golf on the Abernethy course, or drive along the stretch of road from the East Church to Rothiemoon, or linger to shop or chat in the centre of the village, take time to look at the bridges and spare a thought for Thomas Telford and the Good Sir James – the men of vision who, 200 years ago, helped to shape our village.

By Jane Macaulay

Information supplied by George Dixon