Thomas Telford, Civil Engineer Return to :- [Moffat Homepage] [Moffat Server Index] [Telford Index] [Life of Telford] [Made by Telford] [A Local Telford Tour Guide] [Richard Edkins : The Early Roads of Moffat] [Norman Millar : The New Road From Glasgow To Carlisle]

The Telford Tour Guide :

Introduction

Telford designed several structures in Dumfries and Galloway. This short guide is intended to help the visitor trace the roads surveyed, the bridges designed and the surviving features Telford built. They include a port, several bridges, two major road routes, a toll house and the remarkable Beattock Inn.

The tour starts at Gretna, goes north to Beattock, then south and west to Dumfr

Dumfries and Galloway has two main routes surveyed by Telford, with buildings and bridges designed by Telford. :-

(A) 1790-1805 : Carlisle to Portpatrick and Port Logan Coach Road :

For most of its route this follows the line of the present A75, but the exact route is as follows.
B721 Metal Bridge to Gretna and to Annan, joining the A75 west of Annan, leaving the A75 very briefly at Carrutherstown (bypassed by A75) and Collin (bypassed by A75) before entering Dumfries as the Annan Road. The road passed through Dumfries leaving on the line of the A75 to Crocketford and Springholm.

From this point, there were three feasible routes, all of which ended at Creetown before heading westwards to Minnigaff and Newton Stewart, thence to Glenluce, Castle Kennedy and Stranraer. Beyond Stranraer, the road went across to Portpatrick, but Telford had wanted a route south to Port Nessock as being a better harbour and anchorage.

The main visible structures are as follows :-

Tongland Bridge :

The Tongland Bridge now serves purely as an access to Kirkcudbright from the A75, but it is an excellent design and was built at something of a loss by local builders.

Twynholm to Creetown Coast Road (A74) :

This section of the Telford route follows much of the original line, with 'cut offs' on bends and through small towns giving visitors a chance to stop and enjoy the scenery. The

Port Logan :

In view of the tremendous damage to Portpatrick harbour, Telford recommended that the ferry to Ireland leave from the more sheltered waters of Port Nessock Bay, which only needed a short pier to produce a harbour safe in any weather. Sadly, although an excellent pier was built, most of it still surviving, Port Logan wwas used only by cattle-boats landing stock from Ireland. The calm though shallow waters of Loch Ryan ultimately replaced both Portpatrick and Port Logan.

The pier and its granite lighthouse are notable examples of Telford's design and now form a mild tourist attraction in this the most westerly work by Telford in mainland Britain.