Monday 22 February 2016

The Bridges of Peebles


After a miserably wet weekend this morning dawned sunny & tolerably mild so I took the CBF for a short run to Peebles.
Flooded field near Eaglesham
I stopped at the Old Manor Brig (1702) that crosses Manor Water. This is shut to traffic, but I'm sure on one would mind a bike using it. This made me think that there were some interesting bridges in the town.

Up the hill from the old bridge is a good view of the new Manor Bridge over the River Tweed.
Peebles
Tweed Bridge in the town
The bridge has a bit of history. From below you can see the original 15th century arch widened on both sides in 1834 and a further widening (in red stone on the right) in 1900.
The bridge has some quirky cast iron street lamps. The Tweed is famous for salmon fishing but these are suppose to be dolphins.

Places of interest
Priorsford Bridge dates from 1905.
I went to find another footbridge in the town. This was built in late 19th C by the railway company to help people get to the train station. It has unusual underslung bars. I wonder if this was added later after it was found that the bridge was a bit bouncy?
Ducks in the burn
Post boxes in the UK were painted gold in towns that had a gold medal winner in the 2012 London Olympics

Peebles Fish Bar gets my seal of approval! 

3 comments:

  1. Very cool bridges. The older stone architecture is my favorite. You just don't see those around here. (country is too new)

    Thanks for sharing.

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    Replies
    1. Yes I like arches too. When I was a bridge engineer I used to inspect them. It's amazing to think that bridges built hundreds of years ago to carry no more than a horse & cart are now carrying 40 ton trucks.

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  2. Old Manor Brig is now in private hands. It was literally falling down and being hit by too many vehicles. Council decided there were too many bridges of this type in the Borders so sold it to a local landowner who paid for its repair. The landowner required it for access to his lands.
    The old railway bridge in Peebles is now decaying fast.

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