Canonbie Bridge carries the B6357 (former A7) across the River Esk in Canonbie village near the English border. It is a substantial three arch stone bridge dating back to 1754, with some of the stonework taken from the nearby ruins of Canonbie Priory. The bridge was widened in 1899 by cantilevering metal structures out to either side, and while it seems likely that these allowed two lanes of traffic across the bridge in the past, the bridge is now reduced to a single lane controlled by traffic lights. The substantial stone piers stand in the river bed, protected by huge triangular cutwaters that rise almost to the crest of the arches. Pavements run down both sides of the road, supported by the cantilevered sections, and protected by modern metal barriers, both as parapets and between the footway and roadway. A short section of the older Victorian railings survives at one corner, while three corners have short stretches of curved stone walls, which may be the remnants of the original parapet walls.
The difference in height between the two banks means that the bridge rises from west to east, and this can easily be idenitified from the river where the metal cantilevers sit right at the crest of the western arch, while a couple of courses of stonework can be seen over the eastern arch. The road continues to climb, quite steeply, on the eastern bank, past the junction where the A7 used to turn north along the river bank. The A7 crossed the bridge until the Canonbie bypass opened in 1984. Then, for about 18 months, the B720 and B6357 crossed in short multiplex. However, following a landslip about a mile to the north, the B720 was curtailed and the old A7 became an unclassified dead end.
