The Brig o' Doon, sometimes called the Auld Brig or Old Bridge of Doon, is a

late medieval The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

bridge in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and a Category A structure.

History

The word ''brig'' is Scots for "bridge", hence the ''Brig o' Doon'' is the "Bridge of Doon". The bridge is thought to have been built in the early fifteenth century. According to

John R. Hume Professor John R. Hume OBE is an architectural and business historian, author and photographer. He spent 20 years at the University of Strathclyde, researching and lecturing on Economic and Industrial History, before being employed as the princ ...

, the bridge was built by James Kennedy, who died in 1465, but the first recorded mention was in 1512. The bridge was described as "ruinous" in 1593. The bridge features on the 2007 and 2016 series of £5 notes issued by the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

, alongside the statue to

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

, that is located in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

Design

The bridge is located near

Alloway Alloway ( gd, Allmhaigh, ) is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland, located on the River Doon. It is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns and the setting for his poem "Tam o' Shanter". Tobias Bachope, the mason responsible for the cons ...

and crosses the

River Doon The River Doon ( gd, Abhainn Dhùin, ) is a river in Ayrshire, Scotland. Its course is generally north-westerly, passing near to the town of Dalmellington, and through the villages of Patna, Dalrymple, and Alloway, birthplace of Robert Burns. T ...

. It is a single arched bridge, with a steeply humped span of and a rise of . It has been repaired many times, most recently in 1978, and many parts of the stonework do not match. The B7024 public road is carried over the River Doon by the New Bridge of Doon, a single-arch stone bridge built downstream of the old one in 1816 to cope with increasing traffic. The old bridge was sold to the builders of the new bridge as a quarry for material, but money was raised to purchase the old bridge back, and the trustees of the new bridge decided to quarry somewhere else.

In literature

Tam O’Shanter’s Ride, Robbie Burns Statue, Halifax, Nova Scotia

The line of the

cobbles Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fro ...

in the roadway is cranked, due to the belief that this pattern would stop witches from crossing. It is used as the setting for the final verse of the

's poem '' Tam o' Shanter''. In this scene Tam is on horseback and is being chased by Nannie the witch. He is just able to escape her by crossing the bridge (over a running stream), narrowly avoiding her attack as she is only able to grab the horse's tail which comes away in her hands: :"The carlin caught her by the rump :And left puir Meg wi' scarce a stump." The Broadway musical ''

Brigadoon ''Brigadoon'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. The song " Almost Like Being in Love", from the musical, has become a standard. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a ...

'' also takes its name from this site, though the musical's location is fictional.

Gallery

File:Brig o' Doon Bridge 2007 - geograph.org.uk - 426481.jpg, The view over the bridge to the south-west File:(Auld Brig O'Doon, Ayr, Scotland) (LOC) (3450360176).jpg, "Auld Brig O'Doon, Ayr, Scotland", ca. 1890 - 1900.

References

External links