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 1300 to 1500 AD. 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 (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, 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, 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 bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...

, alongside the statue to

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

, that is located in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

Design

The bridge is located near

Alloway Alloway (, ) is a suburb of Ayr, and former 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 (Burns poem), "Tam o' Shanter". Tobias Ba ...

and crosses the

River Doon The River Doon (, ) 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. The source of the D ...

. 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. The line of the cobbles in the roadway is cranked, due to the belief that this pattern would stop witches from crossing.

In literature

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 Broadway musical ''

Brigadoon ''Brigadoon'' is a musical with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and score by Frederick Loewe. The plot features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years; on ...

'' 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", c. 1890 – 1900.

References

External links