The Kalemouth Suspension Bridge is a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

Kalemouth Kalemouth is a place in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, where the Kale Water joins the River Teviot, near to Eckford, Cessford, Crailing, Kelso, and Roxburgh. Kalemouth Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge which crosses the River ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

area of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, near the B6401. It crosses the

River Teviot The River Teviot (; ), or Teviot Water, is a river of the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and is the largest tributary of the River Tweed by catchment area. The Teviot is an important river for wildlife, especially the Atlantic salmon, but ...

just above its

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

with the

Kale Water The Kale Water is a long tributary of the River Teviot in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. Its feeder burns in the Cheviot Hills are the Long Burn, Hawkwillow Burn and the Grindstone Burn, east of Leithope Forest near the Anglo-Scottish ...

, near Eckford.

History

It was designed by

Captain Samuel Brown Captain Sir Samuel Brown of Netherbyres KH FRSE (1776 – 13 March 1852) was an early pioneer of chain design and manufacture and of suspension bridge design and construction. He is best known for the Union Bridge of 1820, the first vehicular s ...

(1776-1852), an officer of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, and built by William Mather, a contractor of Kalemouth, some time between 1820 and 1830. Alexander Jeffrey wrote in 1838 "there is a chain bridge erected over the Tweed (sic) by the Late Mr Ormiston of that Ilk, at his own expense, for his private use: but it has since been opened to the public for a trifling fee - a boon which cannot easily be forgot or misused." In 1834, the tolls were ½ d. for a foot passenger, 3d. for a horse or cart, 6d. for a gig, and 1 s. for a

chaise A chaise ( ), sometimes called shay, is a light two-wheeled carriage for one or two people. It may also have a folding hood. The coachmaker William Felton (1796) considered ''chaises'' a family of vehicles which included all two-wheel one-hor ...

. Tolls are thought to have been paid at Kalemouth Cottage, now enlarged and a private home. Another source give the name of the person who paid for the bridge as William Mein of Ormiston. It is protected as a Category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. and is one of the earliest surviving carriage suspension bridges. The bridge was closed to vehicles in August 2020 due to significant defects in its timber deck, and restoration of its use as a vehicle crossing now seems unlikely.

Design

It crosses the

just above its

with the

, near Eckford. There is another nearby bridge called the Kalemouth Bridge, which carries the A698 over the

. The bridge works on the principle of

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Car suspension * Cell suspension or suspension culture, in biology * Guarded suspension, a software design pattern in concurrent programming suspending a method call and the calling ...

, and uses

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

s with long iron links for the suspension cables. Iron rods are used for suspenders to connect the chain to the deck of the bridge, and additional suspenders have been added in the middle of the chain links. A red painted wooden truss supports the wooden deck, which is covered with a layer of

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

. The four

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

pylons at the ends of the bridge are of pyramidal form. The bridge has a span of , and is wide.

References

External links

{{commons category Bridges in the Scottish Borders Suspension bridges in Scotland Category A listed buildings in the Scottish Borders Listed bridges in Scotland Former toll bridges in Scotland