Garry Bridge

The Garry Bridge carries the B8019 across the River Garry just north of the Linn of Tummel, the vast pool where the Garry flows into the River Tummel. It is an audacious bridge, a mind blowing structure in many ways, but you have to get out of the car and take the path down the gorge to see just how impressive this bridge is!

When driving across, the trees hardly seem to break for the river, let alone the railway line which is crossed at the eastern end. And yet, the bridge soars some 20+ metres above the river below. To put that into context, the bridge piers are about as high as a 9 or 10 storey building!

The bridge itself is two lanes, with pavements on both sides, making it by far and away the highest quality section of the B8019! It is carried across the gorge by three spans of steel girders, supported by two pairs of piers.

History

However, this is not the first bridge to carry the road across the Garry. In 1698 when the Battle of Killiecrankie was fought, the crossing was made by a centuries old ferry service, but it is believed that a bridge was constructed at around the same time that General Wade built his Military Road through the pass in the 1720s. This bridge was almost certainly sited where the modern footbridge is, a little upstream of the current road bridge.

In 1833, a replacement bridge was constructed, similar in style to the one crossing the river at the village of Killiecrankie to the north. It is probably the stonework of this structure that survives below the footbridge on the east bank of the river. The tarred road also seems to meet this structure. However, in the trees on either side are concrete pillars, a pair on either bank, which suggest a much more skewed structure. On the east bank they are blocked by an old stone wall, suggesting that they were never part of a bridge, but their presence is intriguing.