Ken Bridge

Built between 1821 and 1822 to a design by Rennie, it replaced an earlier bridge in the same location, also by Rennie, which was completed in 1811 but destroyed by flooding shortly afterwards. Rennie died on 4 October 1821, before the construction of the bridge was complete.

The bridge is entirely made of granite ashlar, roughly finished for the most part, with polished granite surfaces on the inner faces of the parapet and on the soffits. It curves along its length, and has a total span of 110 m, with the widest central arch spanning approximately 30 m. Its piers are supported on the riverbed by round-nosed cutwaters, and the spandrels between the arches are decorated with pilasters. The bridge has been praised for its aesthetic qualities. Architectural historian John Gifford, writing in the Dumfries and Galloway volume of the Pevsner Architectural Guides series, described it as a "long elegant curve of granite ashlar", and John R. Hume, the former chief…