Wade's Bridge

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; 291 years ago (1733)
Location
Map

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]

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