Description

Date stone 1723. 3-span semicircular arched bridge. Coursed and partially tooled sandstone ashlar, squared rubble and later tarmac roadway and paved pedestrian way. Later utility pipes to outer elevations of parapets.

E & W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATIONS: 3-span bridge with ashlar voussoirs and depressed arch rings. Central arch slightly wider; triangular cut waters adjoining piers and abutments with battered caps; squared rubble spandrels; parapet with chamfered coping leading to slightly advanced moulded wing walls. Much later utility pipes bracketed to outer elevations of parapets, upper pipe to W elevation partially boxed in by timber.

Statement of Interest

One of a few surviving structures in the former village of Riccarton, which was once separated from Kilmarnock by the old bridge. It crosses the River Irvine, which marked the boundary between Cunninghame and Kyle. It is said some of the first carts in Ayrshire were used to carry the stone for this bridge. Before the bridge was built, there was a row of stepping stones to the east of the bridge. These remained in use by some and were marked on maps well into the 19th century. A tollhouse was sited to the south of the bridge, adjacent to a public house built with stone from Riccarton Auld Kirk. A new bridge was built in 1839 to take an increase in traffic from the then booming and growing town of Kilmarnock. A new tollhouse was erected to the north of the river where the bridges almost converge. In front of this was a trough for horses. The bridge remained in use as an access for Riccarton, the "new" bridge being used by traffic on the old Kilmarnock to Ayr route. Both bridges were threatened by storm water in 1932, but survived. The parapets of the bridge carry later utilities across the river by means of pipes.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17791724

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)