TWEEDSMUIR PARISH HISTORY.
Railway Bridge.
The railway bridge crossing the River Tweed at Tweedsmuir was built as part of the railway line built from Broughton to the construction site to service the consruction of the Talla Reservoir in 1896. It was the showpeice of the project. The expensive granite stone for the bridge was imported pre-dressed from Italy. Part of the stonework was the polished granite slabs above the abutment arches - a feature of the bridge. Spare stones for the bridge are still lying about at the west end of the bridge - see below.
The steel works came from Ravenscraig at Motherwell.
The bridge apart from carrying the single track railway line also carried two large cast iron pipes built into the bridge that were part of the aqueduct taking the water from the completed reservoir to the water treatment works at Edinburgh.
Some time after the completion of the reservoir project and the railway line had been lifted for scrap a third water pipe was added on top of the bridge replacing the previous railway track.
As the bridge is still in use as an important aqueduct it is still well maintained by Scottish Water.
The bridge is at a very distinctive dog-leg of the River Tweed. Was this an early local crossing point, say about 1000BC, watched over from the Nether Oliver Crags Hill-Fort on one side and the Whiteside Rigs hillfort on the opposite side? A ford is more probable but there could have been a bridge? This would connect the lands of Polmood with their lands further south at Badlieu in the Wood of Caledon that was a Royal Hunting Lodge. See page on Bonnie Bertha of Badlieu.
The site was a good location for a bridge as the west abutment is founded on rock providing a strong foundation for the bridge that was designed to carry heavily loaded freight trains. This rock outcrop may have been the reason for the diversion of the River Tweed into forming a dog-leg around the outcrop?
Images above left and to the right were taken from the Nether Oliver Crags Hill Fort site. Image of bridge from the slope of Whiteside Rigs below. For more about these sites see pages Early Peoples - paragraph 2i for Nether Oliver Crags and 2c for Whiteside Rigs. Both Hill Fort sites are scheduled monuments.
For more about the reservoir project see pages about the Talla Railway. These pages also include some thoughts on the spare stones for the bridge mentioned above - particularly the granite heraldic shields - paragragraph d).
Above - View of Railway Bridge from the slopes of Whiteside Rigs - this view,of c2005, shows the very distinctive dog-leg in the river.. Other Heritage Assets shown are the Chester Settlement - grass circle with cows grazing more on Early Peoples page paragarph 2d . Site of Oliver Castle in trees upper right, Nether Oliver Crags Hill Fort, discussed above, just off image centre right.
Better view of the Chester Settlement - devoid of cattle. Also the two power line poles carrying power to Glenrusco over the Tweed have vanished.