Tower Bridge (Cockburnspath)

This article is about Tower Bridge on the A1 near Cockburnspath in the Scottish Borders.
For the much more famous Tower Bridge in London, see Tower Bridge.

The other Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge carries the A1 across the small Tower Burn a little to the south of Cockburnspath in the Scottish Borders. It takes its name from the ruinous Cockburnspath Tower which stands on the north bank of the burn a short distance away. The current bridge is the third to carry the A1 across the burn, the old bridge, a stone arch structure, still stands amongst the dense vegetation of the steep, narrow valley, and carries a farm track. It is also known as Cromwell's Bridge, after the notoriuous Oliver Cromwell who oversaw the destruction of the nearby tower, although technically this name appears to relate to another bridge which provided access to the tower itself. The original line of the Great North Road had to wind steeply down to cross this bridge, before climbing out of the gulley on the other side. It was replaced in 1928/9 by a 'high level bridge' which spanned the burn between the old stone arch and the modern bridge. This was removed after the opening of the modern bridge.

The modern bridge was built in 1992 along with improvements to the A1 to the north. It has two spans supported by substantial metal girders under the deck. The central pier consists of a pair of concrete drums, one under each girder. The concrete deck then carries three lanes of traffic between pavements with metal barriers as parapets. The three traffic lanes provide a southbound overtaking lane on the approach to a short section of dual carriageway at the junction with the A1107.

Junction

The Road from Eyemouth has always met the Great North Road on the south bank of the ravine. In the past there was a simple T junction close to the bridge, both with the original arch bridge and the 1920's High Level Bridge. The A1107 still uses this approach to the junction, but since the opening of the modern bridge in 1992, it now doubles back southwards along a short section of the old A1 to meet its new alignment at a new junction. This consists of a short stretch of dual carriageway on the A1, although the second northbound lane has been repurposed solely as a turning lane on the final approach to the junction itself. There is also access to Tower Farm on the western side of the A1, with a right turn lane provided on the southbound carriageway.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A1	Berwick upon Tweed
A1	Edinburgh
A1107	Coldingham
	Tower Farm only