Building record MAB14345 - SEATOWN BRIDGE, CULLEN

Road bridge, still in use, and remains of road bridge.

Road bridge, still in use, and remains of road bridge. The current bridge was built in 1830 but most likely incorporates the stone abutments of the bridge of 1820 which it replaced. It carries the turnpike road, now the A98, over the Burn of Cullen. This section of turnpike was built in 1820, at which time a 3-arch timber trestle bridge with stone piers and abutments, and tunnel under the road on the west side, was built. This bridge collapsed in a flood in 1830 (having survived the Muckle Spate of 1829). The collapse is documented in Crammond's 'The Annals of Cullen: 961-1904'. The current bridge is a single-span rubble-built bridge with a tooled rubble segmental arch ring and band course. It has a tooled rubble cope to the parapet, which is surmounted by modern cast-iron railings along the south side. There are 4 stone drainage spouts in the abutments, at a much lower level than the current road surface. These would seem to support the idea that the abutments are the remnant of the 1820 bridge. The tunnel through the extended wing on the west side survives form the earlier bridge, and was formerly a private access under the road to the Temple of Fame/Pomona (NJ56NW0044). The span is approximately 45 feet (13.7 metres). Not to be confused with the Seatown Viaduct (NJ56NW0020), which goes over this bridge.

Period Notes
Built in 1830, with modern railings. Listed designation given on 25/04/1989.

SDD, n.d., BLDS OF ARCH & HIST INTEREST, CULLEN BURGH 92 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1827.

Record last edited

Jul 30 2020 5:09PM