The Mertoun Bridge is a bridge across the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the R ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lot ...

History

The

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislat ...

that authorised the building of a bridge was passed in 1837, and it was designed by James Slight of Edinburgh. Although the original design was for a bridge built entirely of stone, it was eventually built with stone piers and wooden arches, but with sufficiently strong piers and abutments to allow stone arches to be used in the future. A flood in September 1839 washed away all the wooden parts. It was rebuilt between 1839 and 1841 by William Smith of Montrose, with the piers raised by compared with the original design. The stone arches were added in 1887. The bridge is a Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Design

The piers built between into the bedrock, which was achieved by using

cofferdam A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...

s, and the depth of the bottom of the piers is between and below the summer level of the river. The piers are high from the summer level of the river to the base of the arches, and long and deep, with a straight profile. The masonry used is

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

, and the stone is a reddish

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

quarried nearby. The bridge carries the B6404 public road across the

near

St Boswells St Boswells ( sco, Bosels / Bosells; gd, Cille Bhoisil ) is a large village on the south side of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, about southeast of Newtown St Boswells on the A68 road. It lies within the boundaries of the historic ...

. At the western end of the bridge is a toll-house, built on the embankment leading to the bridge. Nearby is the Mertoun House Bridge, a suspension footbridge dating from the mid-eighteenth century. The Tweed is an important fishing river, and the Mertoun Bridge is the middle of the Mertoun Upper beat.

References

External links

{{River Tweed Bridges in the Scottish Borders Listed bridges in Scotland Bridges across the River Tweed Bridges completed in 1841 1841 establishments in Scotland