CELEBRATIONS marking the 300th year of one of the oldest bridges in the Highlands will include a weekend-long music festival.
The Bridge of Carr in Carrbridge, near Inverness, was built in 1717 to prevent funerals being delayed by difficulties crossing the River Dulnain.
To honour the bridge’s tercentenary, community groups have planned a varied programme of events, stretching from May to October.
Carrbridge community council’s chairman, Andrew Kirk, said: “We couldn’t let the fact that it was our famous bridge’s 300th birthday pass without celebrating it. It is such an iconic structure and much photographed and painted.”
The bridge was built after leading men in the parish were fed-up with funerals being delayed while people tried to cross the river to get to the church on the other side. They went to Brigadier-General Alexander Grant to see if he could built a bridge to ease their troubles.
Grant sympathised with their concerns and he too saw the need for a bridge, having experienced the flooding and famine of the late 17th century.
The physical task of building the structure fell to John Niccelsone (or Nicolson), whose refusal to work for less than £55 was accepted by Grant, who paid him £100 for his labour.
Niccelsone started work on May 23, 1717, and had finished by November 1 that year.
David Simpson, from Stirling, runs a website called Scotland’s Oldest Bridges. He said: “The Bridge of Carr is shown in the first detailed map of Scotland printed in 1750.
“It was around in the 1829 floods, which were horrific in the north of Scotland, and it was one of the survivors in a sense. Originally it had spandrels and parapets but these were all washed away in the floods. Only the arch was left. But you can tell by the arch that it’s an early 18th century bridge. Its architecture is characteristic of its time.”
Ross Coulter, of Landmark Forest Adventure Park in Carrbridge, said: “The Bridge of Carr is an absolutely stunning landmark set in the heart of Carrbridge. It’s fantastic that the local community has put in so much hard work to celebrate the 300-year anniversary.”
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