Description

David Hamilton, early 19th century with later 20th century additions. Flat bridge across shallow burn on main driveway to Cawder House. Shallow round arch of shaped rubble voussoirs, returning to low, ashlar sides. Coursed, squared rubble abutment with projecting ashlar course at road level. Low parapet of large ashlar blocks with segmentally-arched coping stones; squat ashlar terminating pillars with shallow-piended coping stones. Later, concrete buttress added to the NE side of arch. Heavily oxidised stone to E side of bridge (2004); re-pointed with concrete in places. Small waterfall cascading over crescent-shaped concrete former footbridge, abutting bridge to W.

Statement of Interest

A-group listing, also including Cawder House, Cawder Stables, Cawder Dovecot, Cawder Lodge, Cawder Icehouse, Cawder Gatelodge and the lodge at 2 Cadder Road, Bishopbriggs. This plain bridge is located on the main driveway to Cawder House, crossing over the Bishopbriggs Burn. Dating from the early 19th century, it was probably built as part of David Hamilton's redesigning of the Cawder estate, replacing an earlier structure, the form and location of which is unknown. Hamilton was one of Scotland's most prolific and popular architects of the time, his major works including the Royal Exchange in Glasgow (1827-1832), Hamilton Palace (now demolished) and Hutcheson's Hospital (1802-1805). Charles Stirling (owner and benefactor of Cawder House) was an enthusiastic patron of his work, and prior to taking ownership of Cawder, Stirling had commissioned Hamilton to build his previous mansion, Kenmure House (now demolished, on the site of Bishopbriggs Golf Club to the SW of Cawder). Hamilton then executed the Cawder Estate improvements between 1813 and 1815, before returning to Cadder again in 1825 to build Cadder Parish Church. The waterfall to the W of the bridge appears to have originally been a small concrete walkway over the burn for golfers, however the underside of this looks to have been dammed, causing the waterlevel to rise and pass over the top of the concrete structure, forming the waterfall. The burn widens to a large reservoir area to the W of the bridge, and is today used as a water trap on the golf course (2004). The mixed usage of the name Cawder and Cadder to describe the house, village and estate can be a source of some confusion. In the ancient maps of Richardson and Forrest, the parish is marked as 'Cadder' (the parish being one of the original 365 designated parishes), whilst the House and estate are marked as 'Calder'. The use of 'Calder' has since disappeared, and until the early 20th century the estate, village and parish were all referred to as Cadder. The use of the name Cawder was adopted by the golf club and this has since become the most common name for the House and its related estate, whilst the village and parish have continued to be called Cadder. These changes in name and spelling have been put down to gradual changes in dialect and pronunciation through time.

The Bridge is also notable for its close proximity to the Antonine Wall, which passes E-W across the Cawder Estate, to the S of the bridge. It lies within the amenity zone for the Antonine Wall recommended in D N Skinner The Countryside of the Antonine Wall (1973), and which will form the basis of the buffer zone, yet to be defined, for the proposed Antonine Wall World Heritage Site.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56626940

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)