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Summary

Description

David Bryce, 1858 and 1874 for Sir Charles Tennant. Pointed-arch 2-span Scots Baronial bridge with corbelled semi-octagonal pedestrian refuges; leading to castellated archway with bartizans flanked by trefoil detailed walls enclosing courtyard. Droved and polished yellow sandstone ashlar dressings with coursed whinstone walls, parapet and soffits.

BRIDGE:

NW & SE ELEVATIONS: 3 semi-octagonal pedestrian refuges surmounting triangular buttress piers and cutwaters; pointed-arch over river (between refuge 1 and 2) with moulded dressed ashlar voussoirs and stepped hood-mould carrying slightly projecting parapet wall; hybrid pointed/segmental-arch spanning road (between refuges 2 and 3) or similar style and material; plain whinstone wing walls with advanced plain parapet carried on string course to flanks; moulded parapet coping to all. Plan reversed for SE elevation with gun-loop details at far left signifying interior room.

INTERIOR: in SW pier, segmental-arch vaulted room constructed from random rubble (evidence of whitewashing in past, which may suggest usage as cool store for estate produce) with stone and earth floor and lit by long gun-loops in SE wall. Rest of bridge piers appear solid.

COURTYARD ENTRANCE:

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: moulded segmental-arched entrance with stepped hood moulding forming full-length string course, inset panel inscribed SALVE rising into battlemented parapet terminating in bartizans; high plain walls with trefoil and gun-loop detail adjoin kitchen/offices to left and stables to right; moulded coping to all

SW (COUTRTYARD) ELEVATION: hood-moulded, segmental-arched entrance to centre with battlemented parapet and inset panel inscribed VALE, heavy stepped buttresses flanking; plain walls with trefoil and gun-loop detail adjoin stables to left and kitchen/office range to right; moulded coping surmounts all.

Statement of Special Interest

Part of an A-Group with all other Glen estate buildings. The Glen estate can be traced as far back as 1296 when Sarra of the Glen swore allegiance to King Edward I of England. The estate remained in the family's hand until around 1512, when the grounds became fragmented and parts were sold to neighbouring landowners and families. By the 1700's, there were 2 main parts of the estate, Easter and Wester Glen. Easter Glen was sold to Alexander Allan (an Edinburgh banker) in 1796 for #10,500. At this point, the house was a fairly small plain farmhouse. His son, William Allan (Lord Provost of Edinburgh) was responsible for enlarging and extending the house, the architect being his friend William Playfair (see The Temple, listed separately); even after improvement it was still not regarded as being fit for a landowner's principal residence. The 3,500-acre estate was bought in 1852/3 by Sir Charles Tennant, owner of the chemical works of St. Rollox, Glasgow, for #33,140. The house was by then outdated and not suited to modern family life; he commissioned David Bryce to design a baronial style house, to which a tower (also by Bryce) was added in 1874. This bridge was designed by Bryce and formed part of a 2nd phase of architectural improvements to the house and estate by him. It links the formal drive to the house. Until now, access was via a much plainer bridge, thought to have belonged to the previous house, as may a plainer entrance wall to the courtyard. A new baronialised courtyard entrance was built and further enhanced with the addition of bartizans (which matched the tourelles on the new service wing) above the entrance arch. They were designed and constructed in conjunction with a new courtyard front for the stable block. The bridge had a pair of retaining terraces; one adjacent to the river and another aligned with the road that led from the south garden to the rear of the stables. A storage room is located within the courtyard and is still in use. The bridge also provided pedestrian refuges, which, although practical, also afforded views over the surrounding landscape. Tennant continually improved the estate landscape (1860-1890) and was responsible for the building of a school, farm, workers' and estate cottages, walled kitchen garden and kennels making the Glen virtually self-sufficient. Listed as an outstanding example of a Bryce bridge and for its importance as the Entrance Bridge to the centrepiece of an intact later 19th century estate (other estate buildings are listed separately).

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