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Carrbridge

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Carrbridge
Drochaid Charr
Location Map ( geo)
Carrbridge1.jpg
Cameraicon.png View gallery (4)
From:  Carrbridge
To:  Bogroy
County
Inverness-shire
Highway Authority
Highland
Opening Date
1717
Additional Information
List No:  LB241  (Cat B)
On road(s)
B9153
This article is about Carrbridge on the B9153 over the River Dulnain in the Highlands.
For Carr Bridge on the B6259 over the River Eden in Westmorland, see Carr Bridge
.


The Crossing

Carrbridge is a historically important crossing point of the River Dulnain on what would eventually become the A9. The route probably dates back to medieval times, when Cattle Drovers herded livestock south from Sutherland and Caithness to the markets of the Central Belt. The precise location of the original ford is not certain, but believed to be a little further downstream to the current bridges.

The 18th Century Bridge

Perhaps it is surprising that the primary reason given for the erection of the bridge is that burials at the nearby church of Duthill were often delayed when the river was in spate. It was up to one of the local lairds, however, to commission the bridge from a mason of Ballindalloch. It was built over the summer of 1717, between May and November, and survived over a hundred years before the fatal damage occurred.

The original bridge was a packhorse bridge, steeply arched and narrow - the surviving arch is roughly 6 foot across - with low parapets. During the eighteenth century, the river flooded several times, causing minor damage, but in 1829 the parapets were destroyed, and some of the other masonry damaged. The bridge was still used, however, without being repaired.

Subsequent Bridges

The Modern bridge at Carrbridge

There must have been at least one intervening structure spanning the River Dulnain in Carrbridge, as the current structure dates only from the second half of the 20th Century. It seems probable that the Victorians would have constructed a new bridge, especially considering the grandeur of the neighbouring Hotel, but the bridge may have been built even earlier.

However, what is known is that in the late 1920s a new bridge was built here across the River Dulnain to the design of Owen Williams, who built a number of concrete bridges along the route of the A9 at the time. Sadly this bridge has since been demolished and replaced with the very ordinary structure we see today.

The modern structure which carries the B9153 - the former A9 - is a single span Concrete deck, perhaps as far removed aesthetically from its forebear, which stills stands defiantly only 100m or so to the west.




Carrbridge
Related Pictures
View gallery (4)
Carrbridge1.jpgCarrbridge2.jpgA9 Slochd bridge construction..jpgA9 under construction 2.jpg
Crossings of the River Spey & Tributaries
River SpeyGarva Bridge • Spey Dam Bridge • Laggan Bridge • Spey Bridge (Newtonmore) • Ruthven Bridge • Kincraig Bridge • Spey Bridge (Aviemore) • Boat of Garten Bridge • Broomhill Bridge • New Speybridge • Old Speybridge • Cromdale Bridge • Advie Bridge • Blacksboat Bridge • Carron Bridge (Speyside) • Craigellachie Bridge • Boat O'Brig • Fochabers Bridge
River FiddichBridge of Fiddich • Bridge of Poolinch • Bridge of Auchindoun • Bridgehaugh
Avon & LivetBridge of Avon (Ballindalloch) • Silver Bridge (Strathavon) • Bridge of Avon (Tomintoul) •  • Drumin Bridge • Bridge of Livet (Glenlivet) • Bridge of Livet (Tomnavoulin)
River DulnainDulnain Bridge • Carr Bridge • A9 Dulnain Bridge • Sluggan Bridge
Other Tributary CrossingsTromie Bridge • Feshie Bridge • Coylum Bridge • Nethy Bridge


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