Old Travel Photograph Roman Bridge Water of Minnoch Scotland

Old travel photograph of the Roman Bridge which spans the Water of Minnoch near Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The Minnoch is tributary of the River Cree. This probably a 17th or 18th century bridge locally alleged to be Roman. It is more likely to be a packhorse bridge, a bridge intended to carry packhorses, horses loaded with sidebags or panniers, across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow, one horse wide, masonry arches, and has low parapets so as not to interfere with the horse's panniers. Packhorse bridges were often built on the trade routes, often called packhorse routes, that formed major transport arteries across Europe and Great Britain until the coming of the turnpike roads and canals in the 18th century.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.