The Ross Bridge in Comrie

The Ross Bridge in Comrie is the 12th bridge over the river Earn (out of 25, when counting all extant road, foot and railway bridges from source, St Fillans, to mouth, River Tay at Bridge of Earn). It was built in 1792. This date is carved into the east face. Prior to 1792, the hamlet of the Ross was isolated and only accessible via a nearby river ford.

On the south side the bridge has a smaller flood relief arch.

In the 1970s a 3 ton axle weight limit was introduced and the bridge was strengthened with 4 circular pattress plates. The story goes that the original position for the pattress plates was going to cover and possibly destroy the date carving. Thanks to intervention by the community council, the positions of the plates were moved.

The bridge is a category B listed building in the care of Perth and Kinross Council (HES, CANMORE).

A camera is installed on the south bank of the river, just west of the bridge. It is attached to the wooden fence. When the camera is switched on, the image is updated every 10 minutes during daylight hours.

On 20th February 2021 the camera was submerged when the river burts its banks. A sudden thaw following 3 weeks of heavy snow resulted in lots of meltwater. Aggravated by a winter storm, this caused the highest level for at least 5 years. The camera was nursed back to life using rice and a low heat oven. The electronics had survived, but the wifi antenna seems to drop the connection more frequently than before. Apologies if the image is out of date. Please do check the timestamp.

In August 2016 Jelle, Bea, Finlay and Colin moved to Craigvannie, the house south-west of the Ross Bridge. Because the Craigvannie garden is prone to flooding by the river Earn, Jelle is trying to install a river level gauge on the bank of the river close to the bridge. The gauge will measure the river level every 15 minutes and upload the data to this website. This information is also used to provide an early warning system in case of imminent flooding of the garden.

The historical information and gallery section were added for general interest.

To know more about Craigvannie's flag of the day and Colin's flag project, checkout the flag page.