Golspie Bridge

At the north end of the small town of Golspie, the A9 crosses the Golspie Burn as it heads north towards Brora. The road now crosses a rather ordinary single concrete arch bridge, probably dating from the 1930s when the road was improved. It is similar in style to many bridges in the north of Scotland, cloaked in rubble stone, but clearly a concrete structure underneath. It carries a two-lane road with pavements on either side.

The old bridge

However, immediately upstream, indeed so close that the parapets nearly touch at the northern end, is the old bridge. Perhaps not the oldest bridge to have spanned the river here, which was known as the 'little bridge', but a bridge dating back to Thomas Telfords time as inspector of Highland Roads and Bridges. This old bridge is again a single span, although this time the arch is genuinely stone. On the upstream, western, parapet sits an obelisk marking the important function that this bridge, or at least its predecessor, served in the past. The inscription is in Gaelic, but translates as 'The Chief of the Sutherlands summons the victorious clan to the head of the little bridge.' This was the rallying point of the clan before the clearances.