3-021-469 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Devon Valley Railway in Scotland: the Rumbling Brig, 1869. 'The whole course of the river Devon is interesting; but undoubtedly the most romantic and picturesque part is the few miles extending from the Black Linn, in Glen Devon, to the Vicar's Bridge, which includes St. Serf's Bridge, Cauldron Linn, and Rumbling Brig...The Rumbling Brig is built over a deep chasm, where the whole body of the river forces a way, with a hollow, rumbling sound, through a cleft only a few feet wide, riven in the rocks by some convulsion of nature. The banks are finely wooded and garlanded with ferns, ivy, and wild flowers, which soften their rugged grandeur. The bridge is a substantial modern structure, built, in 1816, over a former arch, distinctly visible below the present one, which is at a height of 120 ft. above the water. The old arch had no parapet-wall, and was but 12 ft. wide, yet for a hundred years it was the only connecting point of the opposite banks of the river for miles...The rocks on each side rise to a height of more than 80 ft.; they are crowned by trees, and their dark colour forms a striking contrast to the foaming cataract'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.