North Bridge is a road bridge and street in Edinburgh linking the High Street with Princes Street, and the Old Town with the New Town. The current bridge was built between 1894 and 1897. A previous North Bridge, built between 1763 and 1772, stood until 1896.
The first stone of the original bridge was laid on 21 October 1763 by the Lord Provost, George Drummond, a driving force behind the modernisation of Edinburgh. In that year, the North Loch, which separates the New from the Old Town, was drained, and the mud removed. But, though the erection of the bridge was resolved upon at that time, the contract for building the bridge was not signed till 21 August 1765. The parties to this contract were the town council of Edinburgh, and William Mylne, architect, brother to Robert Mylne. The sum agreed for was £10,140; the work was to be completed before Martinmas (11 November) 1769, and Mylne was to guarantee the works for a period of ten years. [1]
A difficulty, however, occurred in the course of the work, which had neither been foreseen nor provided against. As the north side of the hill on which the old part of the city stands is extremely steep, it had been found convenient, in early times, to throw the earth dug from the foundations of houses down this declivity, towards the North Loch. As a result the whole mass, to a considerable depth, consisted entirely of loose earth. Mylne underestimated the depth of foundations required. This, together with other design faults, led to a collapse of part of the structure on 3 August 1769, killing five people. Rebuilding work cost another £18,000 and the bridge reopened in 1772. [1]
The North Bridge consisted of three central arches, two side arches, with several smaller concealed ones at each end, of the following dimensions: width of the three central arches, 72 feet (22 m) each; breadth or thickness of the piers, 13.5 feet (4.1 m); width of the small arches, 20 feet (6.1 m) each. The total length of the piers and arches was 310 feet (94 m); and the whole length of the bridge, from the High Street to Princes Street was 1,125 feet (343 m). The height of the central arches, from the top of the parapet to the base, was 68 feet (21 m); the breadth of the bridge within the wall over the arches was 40 feet (12 m); and the breadth at each end 50 feet (15 m). In 1817, at the northern end, new buildings were begun on the site of St Anne Street, a steep street running alongside the bridge from Princes Street to Canal Street, which were to be built twelve feet from the bridge parapet with the space arched over and paved thus widening the bridge at this point by twelve feet. [1]
The current North Bridge is 525 feet (160 m) long and has three spans of arched girders each 175 feet (53 m) feet in length. It is 75 feet (23 m) wide. It was constructed from 1894 to 1897 by Sir William Arrol & Co., [2] the company also noted for construction of the Forth Bridge. The design of the ornamentation was by the City architect of the time, Robert Morham. [3]
The foundation stone was laid on 25 May 1896 by the Lord Provost, the Rt. Hon Andrew McDonald, with Masonic ceremonial. A medal [4] was struck commemorating the opening of the bridge on 15 September 1897. [5] The medal shows a view of the bridge with trains underneath and on the obverse a bust of the by then knighted Sir Andrew McDonald. [6]
Situated on the bridge is a war memorial, by sculptor William Birnie Rhind which memorialises soldiers of the King's Own Scottish Borderers killed in campaigns between 1878 and 1902. [7]
At the southern end of the bridge (where it meets the Royal Mile and South Bridge, in the Old Town) are substantial buildings whose main entrances are at carriageway level but which also have entrances in the valley below. Those on the west side are The Scotsman Hotel, former headquarters of The Scotsman newspaper, alongside a block of commercial premises and flats ("Royal Mile Mansions"). That on the east housed Patrick Thomson's department store from 1906 until 1976 when its then owner the House of Fraser rebranded it as Arnotts department store. The store closed in 1981 and the building was redeveloped as a hotel and smaller shops.
At the northern end of the bridge, where it meets Princes Street in the New Town, on the west side is the Balmoral Hotel, originally built as the North British Hotel, the North British Railway's hotel serving Waverley Station, which lies below. On the east side is Waverley Gate, originally the Edinburgh General Post Office, now serving as office space.
In 2021, a major refurbishment project was started on the bridge. This involved relaying the paving slabs and kerbs, surfacing works, drainage upgrades and waterproofing, and repairs to the reinforced concrete bridge deck. To accommodate the work, from 13 November traffic was restricted to one southbound lane, along with the closure of the footpath on the west side, with northbound traffic being diverted via Chambers Street, George IV Bridge and The Mound. [8] The work was originally planned to take nine months, but in July 2022 it was announced that the time-scale would be extended to Spring 2023. This was because of the poor condition of the concrete in the bridge's central bay, which would require its replacement along the entire length of the bay. [9] The following month, a further delay was announced, with the work expected to be completed in 2024. [10] In August 2022, the completion date was pushed back again to 2025. [11]
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station. The south end is in the London Borough of Southwark, near the Tate Modern art gallery and the Oxo Tower. Opened in the 1860s, it replaced an earlier bridge from the 1760s.
Dean Village is a former village immediately northwest of the city centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is bounded by Belford Road to the south and west, Belgrave Crescent Gardens to the north and below the Dean Bridge to the east. It was formerly known as the "Water of Leith Village" and was a successful grain milling area for more than 800 years. At one time there were no fewer than eleven working mills there, driven by water from the Water of Leith.
The Royal Mile is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century (1901), describing the city "with its Castle and Palace and the royal mile between", and was further popularised as the title of a guidebook by R. T. Skinner published in 1920, "The Royal Mile (Edinburgh) Castle to Holyrood(house)".
Princes Street is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km from Lothian Road in the west, to Leith Street in the east. The street has few buildings on the south side and looks over Princes Street Gardens allowing panoramic views of the Old Town, Edinburgh Castle, as well as the valley between. Most of the street is limited to trams, buses and taxis with only the east end open to all traffic.
Robert Mylne was a Scottish architect and civil engineer, particularly remembered for his design for Blackfriars Bridge in London. Born and raised in Edinburgh, he travelled to Europe as a young man, studying architecture in Rome under Piranesi. In 1758, he became the first Briton to win the triennial architecture competition at the Accademia di San Luca. This made his name known in London, and won him the rivalry of fellow Scot Robert Adam.
Edinburgh Waverley is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. The station serves as the northern terminus of the East Coast Main Line, 393 miles 13 chains from London King's Cross, although some trains operated by London North Eastern Railway continue to other Scottish destinations beyond Edinburgh.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge, more commonly known as the Key Bridge, is a six-lane reinforced concrete arch bridge carrying U.S. Route 29 (US 29) across the Potomac River between the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia, and the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Completed in 1923, it is Washington's oldest surviving road bridge across the Potomac River.
Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town, beginning in the 1760s.
The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street, facing Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town across the geological depression of the former Nor Loch. Together with the West End, the New Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the Old Town in 1995. The area is also famed for the New Town Gardens, a heritage designation since March 2001.
The Balmoral Hotel is a hotel and landmark in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located in the heart of the city at the east end of Princes Street, the main shopping street beneath the Edinburgh Castle rock, and the southern edge of the New Town.
Princes Street Station was a mainline railway station which stood at the west end of Princes Street, in Edinburgh, Scotland, for almost 100 years. Temporary stations were opened in 1848 and 1870, with construction of the main station commencing in the 1890s. The station was closed completely in 1965 and largely demolished in 1969–70. Only its hotel remains, but it is no longer in railway ownership.
Canonmills is a district of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It lies to the south east of the Royal Botanic Garden at Inverleith, east of Stockbridge and west of Bellevue, in a low hollow north of Edinburgh's New Town. The area was formerly a loch which was drained in three phases in the 18th and 19th centuries, disappearing finally in 1865.
The Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway was a railway company that built an east-west railway on the southern margin of Edinburgh, Scotland, primarily to facilitate the operation of heavy goods and mineral traffic across the city. The line opened in 1884. Although its route was rural at the time, suburban development quickly caught up and passenger carryings on the line were buoyant; the passenger service operated on a circular basis through Edinburgh Waverley railway station.
Regent Bridge is a road bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the A1 road enters the New Town from the east and passes over a hollow near Calton Hill. The bridge was built in the 19th century, in the neoclassical style as the medieval city was modernised and expanded to the north and east.
The Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway was a railway company formed in 1836 to connect the city of Edinburgh with the harbours on the Firth of Forth. When the line connected to Granton, the company name was changed to the Edinburgh, Leith and Granton Railway. It opened part of its route in 1846, but reaching the centre of Edinburgh involved the difficult construction of a long tunnel; this was opened in 1847. It was on a steep incline and was worked by rope haulage.
The Dean Bridge spans the Water of Leith in the city of Edinburgh on the A90 road to Queensferry on the Firth of Forth. It carries the roadway, 447 feet (136 m) long and 39 feet (12 m) broad, on four arches rising 106 feet (32 m) above the river. The bridge was one of the last major works before retirement of the bridge designer, civil engineer Thomas Telford, and was completed in 1831 when he was seventy-three years old.
The Kelso Bridge or Rennie's Bridge is a bridge across the River Tweed at Kelso, in the Scottish Borders.
Waverley Bridge is a road bridge in Edinburgh linking Market Street and Cockburn Street in the Old Town with Princes Street in the New Town. The bridge forms part of the roof of Edinburgh Waverley station and marks the eastern boundary of Princes Street Gardens. The current bridge was built between 1894 and 1896 by Blyth and Westland; it is Category A listed as part of the station.
The West Sixth Street Bridge is a historic stone arch bridge in downtown Austin, Texas. Built in 1887, the bridge is one of the state's oldest masonry arch bridges. It is located at the site of the first bridge in Austin, carrying Sixth Street across Shoal Creek to link the western and central parts of the old city. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Auldgirth Bridge is a bridge over the River Nith just outside Auldgirth in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Designed by David Henderson of Edinburgh in 1781, it was built by William Stewart, and completed in 1782; Thomas Carlyle's father worked on its construction. The bridge is made of red sandstone ashlar, with three segmental arched spans, and carried road traffic and pedestrians; refuges are built into the parapets, supported by pilasters on the piers, allowing pedestrians using the bridge to move out of the path of heavier traffic. Its total length is 200 feet (61 m). Each of its three spans is 56 feet (17 m) wide, and its roadway, which is level, measures 25.7 feet (7.8 m) from one parapet to the other.
55°57′08″N3°11′19″W / 55.95222°N 3.18861°W
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