Monument record MHG3184 - High Bridge over River Spean, by Spean Bridge

High Bridge was built by General Wade in 1736 (see NN28SW 7). By the 1930s one of its 3 arches was broken and by 1979 only one survived. Visited by OS May 1970; February 1979.
J B Salmond 1938. <1>

REFERENCE - Photographs: National Library of Scotland; Nattes Drawings.
20 Sept. Vol IV no 61. Drawings of High Bridge over the Spey and 8 miles from Fort William.

General Wade, 1737. High 3 arched rubble bridge; segmental headed dressed rubble arch rings; triangular cutwaters rising as stepped buttresses at each end abutments. Smaller east bank arch survives; section remains of cast-iron footbridge placed over missing spans, now also collapsed. Fragments of pulvinated string course survive. High Bridge superseded by Thomas Telford's Spean Bridge further up stream. Said to have been (and still is) inscribed "In the ninth year of His Majesty King George II this bridge was erected under the care of Lt General Wade, Commander in Chief of all Forces in North Britain, 1736."
In poor condition and difficult to examine owing both to condition and over-grown vegetation. <2>

Photographs were contributed by Martin Briscoe via the Highland HER Flickr group.<3>