PORRIDGE, HOLDS BODY AND SOUL TOGETHER

Rabbie Downunder · Status: Offline

PORRIDGE, HOLDS BODY AND SOUL TOGETHER

andymacb · Status: Offline

Aye Rab,

Porridge is one of my faourites too, but I don,t eat it as much as i used to. Now that the winter is approaching in the USA it is time for the "spurtle".

I was in Carrbridcg during my last vsit back hame in May and it is a nice wee place with an interseting auld brig.

Attached is a some photographs that I took of the brig during my vist.

andy

Rabbie Downunder · Status: Offline

Hi Andy, what a beautiful scene and thanks for sharing it, any idea of when it was built?, Rab.

andymacb · Status: Offline

Hi Rab,
Carrbridge grew at the point where the main route from Perth to Inverness crossed the fast flowing River Dulnain, one of the main tributaries of the River Spey.

The first bridge allowing the River Dulnain to be crossed with dry feet was built in what is now Carrbridge between May and November 1717 by a mason called John Niccelsone. He did so at the behest of Brigadier-General Alexander Grant of Grant at a cost of £100. The main aim of the bridge was to ensure that funerals did not have to be delayed when the river was in spate and unfordable.

Competition was soon to arrive, however, because when General George Wade built his military road north some years later, it crossed the River Dulnain three miles to the west at Sluggan Bridge.

It was Thomas Telford who settled the matter. When he reconstructed the Highland road network in the early 1800s, he abandoned Wade's line in favour of a road using the earlier bridge at Carrbridge. This remained in use until the side walls were badly damaged in floods in August 1829. Amazingly enough, what was left by the 1829 floods still remains, as a fragile looking arch across the river a few yards to the west of the modern road bridge at the north end of the village.

Telford's route was in turn used by the later builders of the A9, which ran through Carrbridge until the "new" A9 was built in the late 1970s on a line a little to the west of the village.
Andy

Rabbie Downunder · Status: Offline

Hi Andy, thanks for that information, it is really appreciated, I posted an article on the Scottish history section on this great engineer Thomas Telford, have the pictures you posted dissapeared?, they have on my computer, I wonder why, Rab.

"Scientists dream about doing great things, Engineers do them'

-- Edited by Rabbie Downunder at 04:21, 2007-10-27

-- Edited by Rabbie Downunder at 10:00, 2007-10-27

andymacb · Status: Offline

Aye Rab,

I lost some of the images also. The glitches of working in " Cyberspace".

I have attached 4 pictures of the " Brig ".
The Forth Railway Bridge is my favourite of all bridges. I crossed it a few times as a boy. We used to throw pennies out of the carraiage windows for "luck". I always thought about the possibility that one of the bridge workers would get hit by a penny, his bad luck.

My GGGF,s company supplied some of the Steam Shovels that were used in the preparation of the approaches to the bridge.

Andy

Rabbie Downunder · Status: Offline

G'day Andy, thanks for posting the photos of the "brig" again, I envy you having stood so close to a thing of such beauty; i have saved your photos this time in case the gremlins attack again.
I also love the Forth bridge along with the Sydney Harbour bridge, i have made contact with a group of enthusiasts re Sydney's bridge and you are quite correct about the Scots contribution and the Irish as well, they have a list of most of the people who worked on the bridge and what they did and I will post this in the near future.
Your GGGF contributed to the Forth hey, thats something to be proud of, I have placed some photos in his honour,, regards Rabbie,

-- Edited by Rabbie Downunder at 02:56, 2007-10-29

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