Winter Snow Falling Smeaton's Bridge River Tay On Visit To Perth Perthshire Scotland

Tour Scotland Winter travel video of snow falling on Smeaton's Bridge which spans the River Tay in Perth, Perthshire. John Smeaton, architect of the Eddystone Lighthouse, was commissioned to build a new bridge at Perth. Smeaton's bridge was completed in 1771 and is generally known as Perth Bridge or by locals simply the Old Bridge. Smeaton was born in Austhorpe, Leeds, England. After studying at Leeds Grammar School he joined his father's law firm, but left to become a mathematical instrument maker, working with Henry Hindley, developing, among other instruments, a pyrometer to study material expansion. In 1750, his premises were in the Great Turnstile in Holborn. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1753 and in 1759 won the Copley Medal for his research into the mechanics of waterwheels and windmills. Employing his skills as a mechanical engineer, he devised a water engine for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1761 and a watermill at Alston, Cumbria in 1767, he is credited by some with inventing the cast iron axle shaft for water wheels. In 1782 he built the Chimney Mill at Spital Tongues in Newcastle upon Tyne, the first 5 sailed smock mill in Britain. He also improved Thomas Newcomen's atmospheric engine, erecting one at Chacewater mine, Wheal Busy, in Cornwall in 1775. Smeaton died on 28 October 1792, after suffering a stroke while walking in the garden of his family home at Austhorpe, and was buried in the parish church at Whitkirk, West Yorkshire. He is highly regarded by other engineers, having contributed to the Lunar Society and founded the Society of Civil Engineers in 1771. The River Tay, Scottish Gaelic: Tatha, is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh longest in the United Kingdom. The Tay originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui mountain, Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Laoigh, then flows easterly across the Highlands, through Loch Dochart, Loch Iubhair and Loch Tay, then continues east through Strathtay, in the centre of Scotland, then southeasterly through Perth, where it becomes tidal, to its mouth at the Firth of Tay, south of Dundee in Tayside. The weather forecast suggests more Snow showers are expected during Storm Darcy along the eastern side of England and Scotland in the coming days, with a few moving into central areas including northern England. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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