These excellent photos were taken last Summer (2017) by Alex Rochead, shared here with permission.
From the upstream side on the River Calder is ‘The Priory Bridge’ looking through to the road bridge (twin culverts). I love this photo showing the 3 stages of construction.
- The original narrow bridge that couldn’t even let 2 coaches pass,
- The 1809 sandstone addition to make it wider for Victorian horse drawn traffic and then
- the 1907 brickwork on the outside to let trams traverse it. (thankfully escaping ever being enclosed in concrete)
This is an important structure for Blantyre and hidden away from most pedestrians and vehicles is still one of Blantyre’s little secretly hidden gems.