1820: The Dedication of a Suspension Bridge Between England and Scotland

July 26, 1820

A dedication ceremony was held for the Union Chain Bridge spanning the River Tweed and serving as a link between the village of Horncliffe in England and the parish of Fishwick in Scotland. At the time of its opening, this structure – with a length of 449 feet (137 meters) – was the world’s longest wrought iron suspension bridge. The Union Chain Bridge had the added distinction of being the first vehicular bridge of its kind in the entire United Kingdom.

This bridge was designed by civil engineer and former British Royal Navy officer Samuel Brown (1776-1852). Construction on the Union Chain Bridge began on August 2, 1819. Those on hand for the dedication of the bridge nearly a year later included the renowned Scottish civil engineer Robert Stevenson (1772-1850). Before allowing a crowd of approximately 700 people to walk across the Union Chain Bridge that day, Brown tested the durability of the structure with a curricle (a two-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses) that hauled a dozen carts altogether from one end of this new bridge to another.

The Union Chain Bridge was designated as a Historical Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2023. The accompanying image of this bridge under construction is a painting that was created in 1819 by Scottish landscape artist Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840).

Image Credit: Public Domain

For more information on the Union Chain Bridge, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Chain_Bridge