Lovat Bridge

Looking across Lovat bridge with the cycle lanes on either side

Lovat Bridge carries the A862 across the River Beauly near the village of Beauly. The construction of the bridge consists of five stone arches, the largest in the centre, creating a gentle curvature to the road deck which appears as a pronounced hump when crossing the bridge. Hexagonal refuges rise up the piers from the triangular cutwaters, and the bridge is decorated with a double string course at road level, an unusual feature. The bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and built between 1811 and 1814 by the Commission for Highland Roads and Bridges. There is a much higher level of detailing and decoration on Lovat Bridge compared with most of the commissions bridges, largely due to the funding recieved from Lord Lovat, whose estate is nearby, and who rejected the idea of a plain stone structure so close to his home.

The bridge was partially rebuilt in 1894 due to damage caused by a flood which caused a pier to collapse, taking two arches with it. The bridge is category A listed. The bridge carried the A9 until 1982 when the opening of the Kessock Bridge, the next bridge downstream on the Beauly Firth which the river flows into, meant the road was rerouted and the road over the bridge was reclassified as the A862. Until 2011 the road was a narrow two lane single carriageway but is now a single lane controlled by traffic signals with cycle lanes in both directions which aren't signal controlled.

Links

Historic Scotland: listing

RCAHMS: site record