Here is an update on the plight of the Wade Bridge at Whitebridge.
Councillor Margaret Davidson took up the case after being buttonholed by local retired minister Martyn Bateman at a local meeting. And an article by SLNHG in the Boleskine Bulletin prompted John Townshend, a retired civil engineer who divides his time between Edinburgh and Foyers, to do some landowner research in Edinburgh archives, to attend meetings set up by Margaret Davidson with the Council and their consultant and to become involved. He writes these notes about landownership issues, the state of the bridge, and the next steps planned.
Firstly the unresolved landownership issues. The two current landowners are Moor Valley Leisure Ltd from Yorkshire (owners since 2006 of Wildside Highland Lodges) and the new Dell Estate and its subsidiary Fechlin Properties Ltd, owned by Jeremy Finnis. The picture is complicated by unclear boundary descriptions in past documents, including the 1897 purchase by the British Aluminium Company of two plots on either side of the river, after their success in developing the Foyers hydro-powered aluminium factory in 1895. They intended another hydro scheme using the River Fechlin with a turbine house at the bridge on one bank or the other, but nothing was built. One plot was bought from the Foyers Estate “bounded by the river”, the other from the Lovat Estate (Simon Fraser) with a similar description. A drawing showing the boundary descriptions has been produced and discussed with Highland Council’s lawyer who is working afresh on tying up the loose ends. Garrogie Estate is not a part owner. SLNHG understands that both landowners are willing to co-operate but wish to limit their liabilities.
Secondly the state of the bridge. John Duncan, Highland Council’s conservation architect, commissioned a report in 2007 from Mott MacDonald. The engineers assessing the bridge had also reported ten years earlier, with recommendations that the old Dell Estate carry out repair work to the north west foundations, but these were ignored. MottMac’s pre-assessment letter dated October 2007 was full of doom, mentioned demolition as an option, and led to closure. A meeting was held on 7th May 2008 in Inverness involving MottMac, the Council’s architect, engineer and lawyer, and Margaret Davidson. MottMac’s key report was eventually issued in September 2008. It gave a black picture but stopped short of recommending demolition, and proposed a concrete jacket around the foundations and a total repair cost estimate which adding fees came to about £250,000. John Townshend’s personal view is that the bridge is currently quite stable, but has suffered severe river erosion damage within the past 10 years since archive photos and could be destroyed by an exceptional flood if nothing is done to repair the damage. The river in severe flood could exceed 3 metres depth and rush down. The hydro schemes of Foyers and Glendoe are interventions reducing normal flows, but will hardly reduce the effect of major floods which are most likely in the winter season.
Thirdly, what are the next steps? The bridge is not Highland Council's responsibility, and they will not adopt it even when restored, but are co-operating actively with advice and legal help. An initial approach on behalf of SLNHG and others to Historic Scotland received a cautiously positive response, offering 50% grant subject to their usual conditions of high standards. The bridge is listed as top category A, of national importance, and ranked by an expert as arguably the finest surviving Wade bridge. With this encouragement, a restoration trust has been set up and is now looking to recruit members (download application form), to raise funds, to take over ownership of the bridge along with responsibility for it, to receive consent for repairs planned and to engage contractors to do repair and restoration work in stages starting with urgent first aid. There are examples of such action on bridges far worse than this. Already the saplings growing out of the bridge have been pruned, and the mature birch tree splitting the north east wingwall has been felled.
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