Mein Bridge

Mein Bridge crosses the Mein Water a short distance south east of Ecclefechan. There are at three bridges here, the oldest having been built by Thomas Telford in the 1820s, and the newest constructed as part of the motorway upgrade in the 1990s.

Telford's Bridge

Despite being a long way from the Scottish Highlands, Thomas Telford also worked on the Carlisle to Glasgow road as part of his commission on Highland roads and bridges. One of the last parts of the route seems to have seen the construction of the Mein Bridge in 1826, after the commission had officially ceased new works. However, the date stone on the bridge itself assures us of the date and Telford's role as Engineer. It is a single stone arch span, with typical late-style parapets and carries a single carriageway road which was in use as the A74 until the 1960s.

The road over the bridge is now a dead end, just serving a farm, but it's continuation can be found passing the gates of Burnfoot Hall to the north of the motorway and B7076 a little to the east of Mein Bridge.

Dual carriageway bridge

In the 1960s, much of the A74 was upgraded to provide a full dual carriageway from England to Glasgow. This included a bypass of Ecclefechan with new junctions either side of the village. That to the south lay immediately to the west of the Mein Water, which was crossed on a new concrete bridge carrying the dual carriageway. The bridge was wider than most, due to the proximity of the sliproads meaning that the acceleration and deceleration lanes actually crossed the bridge as well. This bridge survives today, carrying the B7076, although reduced to single carriageway with most of the old northbound carriageway grassed over - the B7076 crosses from the southbound to northbound carriageways to the east of the bridge.

Motorway bridge

The Mein Water is now crossed by the D3M A74(M) motorway, which crosses immediately to the north of the old stone bridge. This third bridge therefore sits in between the two older spans. It carries a full 3 lane motorway, with hard shoulders, and is more of a culvert than a bridge, with grassy banks at either end.