Bridge of Dye

The old bridge

Bridge of Dye is a tiny settlement which grew up around the old Bridge of Dye on the southern approach to the Cairn o'Mount pass. The old bridge has been bypassed by the B974 which now crosses the pass, but remains standing alongside as an important local landmark which is one of the oldest remaining bridges in the North East of Scotland. It was originally built in 1680 to improve the southern access to the pass, and from 1681 tolls could be levied on travellers crossing the bridge to help maintain it. Eighty years later, when Major Caulfeild formalised the pass as a military road, he made use of the bridge and integrated it into the military road system.

Old Bridge

The old bridge consists of a single high stone arch with four ribs to add strength underneath. The faces of the structure are fairly plain, with the rubble stonework somehow creating some decoration. The bridge is hump-backed over the arch, the parapets rising to a peak with vertical stones rising from the arch ring above the tops of the parapet. These stones have a slight taper, and due to the way that the arch ribs are constructed from small stones, it appears that these vertical pillars may be in lieu of keystones in the arches themselves. The abutments on the river banks are massive, particularly on the south side of the river, where they form two large triangular 'refuges' either side of the road. There was a tight turn on to the bridge from the south. The roadway itself is narrow, only wide enough for single file traffic, but it is now protected by bollards and retained as a footbridge.

New Bridge

Thenew bridge

The new bridge is a three span concrete structure where the two piers rise from the river banks, leaving the central span to cross the river. The side spans are more akin to open abutments, and though they may be considered to provide flood 'arches' for when the river is in spate, the confines of the old bridge alongside will limit this value. It carries a wide, straight two lane roadway between pavements and metal barriers as parapets. The construction of the new bridge removed a series of kinks in the road as it crossed the old bridge, meaning that the B974 from the south now crosses the bridge at the end of a long straight, with a sweeping bend climbing away to the north.