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Bridges of the Forth 141
an ordinary little bridge a few metres upstream, but the architect has provided
a grand entrance to the estate with this bridge high above a gorge.
The next important bridge on the Forth, Cardross Bridge, like Drip, is very
fine indeed, a three-arched stone bridge, with an inscription. It is 200 feet long,
spanning the Forth between Port of Menteith and Arnprior.
On the east side there is a panel declaring that it was erected in 1774, with a
subvention of £250 from the King, out of the confiscated Jacobite estates, with the
latin injunction that travellers should be grateful for this royal benefaction [The
Queen’s Scotland].
Although it is on the verge of the Trossachs it is out of the way nowadays. In
the days of the Forth and Clyde railway, however, it was crossed by the
principal way by which the tourists came to Aberfoyle until the Strathendrick
and Aberfoyle Railway Company built a direct line including a lattice girder
bridge across the Forth.
Above this the river is crossed by two more stone bridges of note, and a
ferro-concrete by-pass for one of them. The Brig o’ Forth at Gartmore replaced
the Gartartan ferry over the Forth, hard under ‘The Fairy Knowe’ where the
local minister was supposedly taken up by the fairies, a story which fascinated
Sir Walter Scott. The Brig o’ Forth, Aberfoyle is another interesting bridge. The
trouble with bridges, of course, is that after a while, seen from the river bank,
they are rather indistiguishable from one another, at first glance Aberfoyle
resembles Gartmore. However, Aberfoyle bridge is backed by Craigmore a
distinctive hill which marks the edge of the Highlands. It is well known partly
because Scott mentions it, as follows, in ‘Rob Roy’. “We crossed the infant Forth
by an old-fashioned stone bridge, very high and very narrow”. The crossing of
the Forth and entry into the Highlands marks a turning point in the story. Scott
was wrong in supposing that there was a bridge in Rob Roy’s day. It had
relatively recently been erected when Scott first visited Aberfoyle in 1790, the
old bridge having been destroyed in the 1715. The Brig o’ Forth at Aberfoyle is
sometimes referred to as the fourth Forth Bridge, the other three, at the time it
was erected being, one supposes, Stirling Bridge, Drip Bridge, and Cardross
Bridge.
The bridge is a focal point in the life of the village and it was the scene of a
real life fracas relayed by W. T. Palmer as follows:
Among the neighbours with whom William Graham, the eighth Earl of Menteith
(1667-1694), had debts and disagreements, was John Graham, laird of Duchary
and his son Thomas Graham, but for some time he found it impossible to put
these into execution. No sheriff officer was willing to enter Duchary Castle with
his writs. At length, what seemed to be a favourable opportunity presented itself.
The younger Graham was to have a child baptised at the Kirk of Aberfoyle on 13th
February 1671, and it occurred to the Earl that, not only the father of the child, but
old Duchary and the whole family would be present at the interesting ceremony.
He resolved therefore to seize the opportunity to serve his letters of caption.
Having collected a number of his friends and servants and taking with them a
Messenger-at-Arms, Alexander Muschet, he intercepted the christening party at
the Bridge of Aberfoyle.