Forestry Commission bridge - Glen Affric
Photograph is courtesy of Inverness, Ross and Skye Forest District and staff at their Fort Augustus office.
Malcolm Wield former District Manager based at Fort Augustus comments: ‘Looking west, the bridge is definitely the FC bridge over the River Affric leading to the western part of the Reserve. It crosses the river between Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin and Loch Affric. Beyond the bridge you can see the N Affric Estate track leading to Affric Lodge. There is shared access over the bridge but it is wholly FC owned. I don’t know the date but the bridge and construction spoil look very fresh, so it was probably taken shortly after being finished. This part of Glen Affric was purchased in 1951 and the photograph could be dated around 1960 or earlier’.
Can anyone confirm when the bridge was built and name anyone who worked on this attractive looking construction which is often a key focal point in many landscape images of Glen Affric area? Any information is very welcome.
‘John can remember the bridge being built he thinks when he was at school, so says either late 1950s or early 1960s. He said it was called Jimmy Ross's bridge - he was the so called 'concrete monkey' who lived in the hostel in Cannich and built it. John remembers watching the concrete being made on the Affric road and poured down a corrugated iron chute to the bridge site. They had to dig out a huge amount of peat on the approach to the bridge apparently.
The road squad engineer in charge at the time was called Mr Ward, lived in Tomich and had a Ford van! John remembers the roads at the back of Knockfin being built around the end of the 50s too. Mr Ward took Tomich residents down to Cannich Hall to see the 'Highlands and Islands films'.
Comment left on 02 November 2015 at 16:53 by Norman Davidson