the Forth Naturalist Historian - Forth Naturalist and Historian ...

138 Louis Stott
‘Statistics have shown
That the traffic’s outgrown
Your bumpy old,
Humpy old,
Bridges of stone;
It’s the Age of the Wheel,
And we earnestly feel
If you want to be safe you must build ‘em of steel:
Dashing new,
Flashing new,
Bridges of steel.’
Bridges of the Devon and Bannock
Above the Kincardine Bridge it is bridges of stone rather than bridges of
steel which deserve attention, but it is a mistake to suppose that the Railway
Bridge and the two Road Bridges at Queensferry and Kincardine are the only
‘Forth Bridges’ worth going to. Beyond Alloa, where, on the railway, there was
another swing bridge, are the ‘Links of Forth’, notable meanders which meant
that the little steamers which, at one time, plied between Edinburgh and
Stirling travelled a very much greater distance than the few miles between
Stirling and Alloa. Below this point rivers which empty into the Firth of Forth
– the Carron, the Almond, the Avon and the Esks – are generally regarded as
being independent streams. The trunk stream is joined by the Devon, the Black
Devon, and the Bannock Burn, on which there are, or were, a number of
distinguished bridges.
From the geomorphological point of view the Devon ought to flow into
Loch Leven and join the sea in Fife, but, at the Crook of Devon, it changes
direction. This is a notable example of ‘river capture’ demonstrating the erosive
power of rivers. The lower Devon cut its way back forming the dramatic series
of gorges and waterfalls at Rumbling Bridge. At this point William Grey of
Saline threw a narrow bridge, only twelve feet wide and without parapets,
across the river in 1713. It carried the principal road to the North and was
superseded in 1816 by a stone arch bridge, 120 feet above the water, built on the
same site above the old bridge. The whole site, now in the care of the National
Trust for Scotland is a remarkable tourist attraction, well worth seeking out.
Near Tullibody, on the Devon, another critical crossing point, were two fine old
stone bridges.
At Bridgend on the A907 is the Old Bridge of Devon, an unusually long
early sixteenth century bridge, designed to impede the rapid transit of horse
traffic. Its great length is attributable to the difficulty in crossing the flood plain
at this point. It is said that in 1559 Kirkcaldy of Grange dismantled a part of the
bridge to prevent the French, retreating from Fife, from crossing the Devon.
However, they dismantled the roof of Tullibody church to effect a temporary
repair. A more permanent repair was carried out in 1560. Parallel to the old
bridge, a lattice girder bridge, Downies Bridge, was erected during the 1920s.
This metal bridge, long neglected, had suddenly this August 1999 to be by-