Abut a year ago we decided to take a walk to try to find the Barrel Brig, an old bridge over the River Ore in Fife. It had been featured in a calendar we had of local scenes but we’d never seen it.

It’s not on the beaten track and we had to walk quite a distance from where we parked in Coaltown of Balgonie. The start of the path has a view over to Balgonie Castle (on the left of this photo):-

It turned out to be a longer walk than we had expected along muddy roads/paths and over a disused railway line before finally seeing the River:-

It was still a couple of hundred metres or so before we saw the brig itself:-

The path curves round to the brig:-

You can see it’s not a modern thoroughfare:-

Before taking that shot I did scout down to the bank to grab this photo:-

We then strolled across the (unparapeted) bridge to get the opposite angle:-

On the way back to the car I took this shot over the fields to Largo Law in the distance:-

It’s mostly the Queensferry Crossing, not the two older bridges, you can see in this photo. (The white sail-shaped objects in the distance are the bridge’s cable stays.)

Looking the other way from the garden area there is a view of and Dunfermline Abbey and, to the left, the remains of Dunfermline Palace:-

Dunfermline Palace:-

Another memorial on Perth’s North Inch (see previous posts.)

Memorial to the 90th Light Infantry, which was raised in 1794:-

The memorial was erected in 1883:-

Perth Bridge behind:-

An old joke has it that Perth is the smallest town in Scotland because it only has two inches. The North and South Inches are of course green spaces used for recreational purposes. They both border the River Tay.

We used to park regularly in the South Inch car park when we visited Perth. Nowadays we tend to use elsewhere.

As a result we one day strolled around the south part of the North Inch. A wall separates it from the river and on that wall is a plaque commemorating the men of Perth Co-operative Society who lost their lives in the two World Wars. It is inscribed, “1914 – 1919. To the lasting memory of the employees of the City of Perth Co-operative Society Ltd who fell in the Great War,” plus, “Also in grateful remembrance of those who sacrificed their lives in the Second World War 1939 – 1945,” and, “Their name liveth for evermore.”

From it there is this view of the river and Perth Bridge:-

Perth Bridge:-

On the same visit we popped into Perth Museum and Art Gallery. Among many other exhibits they have this old Pictish stone found at St Madoes/Inchyra in the Carse of Gowrie, Perth and Kinross.

In 2018 we visited Ironbridge, site of the eponymous iron structure. Unfortunately at that time the bridge was being refurbished and swathed in plastic. Last year on our way further south from Gladstone’s Library at Hawarden we returned. Lo and behold the bridge was revealed in all its splendour. A delightful sight.

The iron bridge at Ironbridge (Ironbridge War Memorial to right; see first link above):-

Closer view:-

Reverse view of bridge:-

River Severn from the iron bridge (looking east):-

(Looking west):-

Ironbridge village from the iron bridge:-

River Severn to west:-

River Severn looking to bridge from west:-

Sadly earlier this year the River Severn rose – not for the first time – and overwhelmed the temporary flood barriers that had been erected in an effort to prevent damage.

Rhyl is only a few miles from Prestatyn so we popped along the coast a bit. It’s a seaside town so naturally there’s some Art Deco.

Former Burton’s. Typical Burton’s Deco style:-

Art Deco style clock tower on East Parade. Nice bridge behind:-

Then there was this building still with its original Critall windows:-

The Premier Inn on East Parade has something of the look, horizontals, verticals but no rule of three:-

The Royal Border Bridge, Berwick was built between 1847 and 1852 to carry the railway over the River Tweed.

From north bank:-

Southern part:-

From Tweedmouth:-

Tweedmouth’s War Memorial stands at the southern end of Berwick Bridge almost in the shadow of the newer Royal Tweed Bridge.

From Berwick Bridge (Royal Tweed Bridge in background):-

The Memorial’s inscriptions are, “In ever grateful and proud remembrance of the brave men of Tweedmouth who fell in the Great World War 1914-1918 and of the men and women of Tweedmouth who lost their lives in the Second World War. They were a wall unto us both by night and day.” “Erected by the inhabitants of Tweedmouth and other friends.” There is also a dedication to 2nd engineering officer Paul A Henry GM, 8/6/1982, aboard RFA Sir Galahad, at Bluff Cove – Falkland Islands. Below are the dates “1914-1919” and “1939-1945” and “To the memory of the men and women of Tweedmouth who have fallen since 1945.”

Memorial from west:-

Reverse of memorial:-

Behind the Memorial on the wall bordering the River Tweed are some shields installed to remember those whose names were not included on the Memorial itself. From left to right: Civilian Personnnel, Royal Air Force, The youth of today remember the youth of yesterday. This last has the furtehr information, “These shields were requested by the children of the area In Memory of the Fallen.” “We do not forget.” (Royal Tweed Bridge and Berwick Bridge in background.)

There are two more shields to the right of Youth of today; Royal Navy and British Army:-

Tweedmouth War Memorial and Berwick Bridge from Royal Tweed Bridge:-

I have posted pictures of Berwick’s bridges before, in 2010.

Berwick’s old bridge was built between 1611 and 1624. Previously wooden bridges had spanned the river but were variously destroyed by floods or military action.

From Tweedmouth side:-

From newer bridge (to west; stitched photo):-

From northwest, on new bridge (stitched photo):-

Annan is a town in Dumfries and Galloway. It is named for the river which runs through it:-

That bridge is well-proportioned:-

View from bridge looking north:-

Somewhere in the park beyond is the remains of Robert Bruce’s motte and bailey castle:-

A statue of Bruce adorns the Town Hall:-

The Town Hall itself from a different angle:-

This is the view south from the bridge. Another bridge (a footbridge) can be seen to top centre right:-

We walked down to get a closer look (and eventually walked over it):-

The footbridge gave a good view of the old railway bridge over the River Annan. the railway is now disused:-