Wade's Bridge
The bridge in 2022
Coordinates56°37′17″N 3°52′25″W / 56.6215°N 3.8737°W / 56.6215; -3.8737
CrossesRiver Tay
LocaleAberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, Scotland
Other name(s)Tay Bridge
Characteristics
Total length112 metres (367 ft)
History
ArchitectWilliam Adam
Opened1733 (1733)
Location

Wade's Bridge (originally known as Tay Bridge) is five-arch bridge crossing the River Tay at Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. A Category A listed structure built in 1733,[1] to a design by William Adam, it carries the pedestrian and vehicle traffic of Poplar Avenue.[2] Erected for the Board of Ordnance, to the order of Lieutenant General George Wade, its original purpose was as a military road linking the garrisons at Ruthven, Fort George, Fort Augustus and Fort William.[3]

The stone was quarried, cut and tooled at nearby Bolfracks. In 1932, two tablets with copies of Wade's original inscriptions were let into the stonework of two obelisk plinths; one in English and one in Latin. These state that the bridge was begun in April 1733 and finished by January; however, this is not strictly true, as General Wade stopped work for the winter, leaving the bridge without parapets over the side arches. These were added the following year.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland, Francis Hindes Groome (1901)
  2. 1 2 Tay Bridge – Historic Environment Scotland
  3. ↑ Mackenzie, Sir Kenneth (13 April 1897). Paper entitled General Wade & his Roads. Inverness Scientific Society.


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