Allt a' Chaorainn Bhig Bridge

The bridge over the Allt a' Chaorainn Bhig is not the largest, or the most interesting on the A87 along Loch Cluanie. It is a simple single-span concrete structure with metal railings as parapets, carrying the road across a fairly small stream.

The old bridge

However, just a short distance downstream, the old road from before the loch was dammed, emerges from its watery grave and the arch stones of the old bridge still survive. In spring 2012, the remaining stonework was rather precariously balanced, and not looking safe enough to cross, but despite the action of half a century of water slowly stripping away the upper stonework, the arch itself remains.

Built by Telford in c1815, if not by Caulfeild 60 years earlier, the bridge is a single span stone arch, and what remains shows how roughly but solidly such structures were built, There is virtually no mortar left between the stones, leaving some rather large holes, but still the arch stands, as it has for 2 centuries.