The ruins of Elgin Cathedral sit on the banks of the meandering River Lossie, close to the Landshut Bridge.

Elgin Cathedral is still an impressive and imposing edifice despite its largely skeletal state.

The Cathedral was established in 1224.

It had a chequered history, suffering its first damaging fire in 1270 and extensive damage – again, by fire – when it was attacked by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, also known as the Wolf of Badenoch.

The Cathedral was renovated and enlarged following these fires. The octagonal Chapter House was built during the extension works following the fire of 1270.

The gable end at the two westerly towers has a double-door entrance and is nearly complete. These towers have been reroofed by the custodians, Historic Scotland, and the north-west tower is a good viewpoint over Cooper Park and in all directions.

An enormous protective wall surrounded the Cathedral precinct.

But only a small section remains.

The wall had 4 access gates, one of which – the Pans Port – is still in existence.

The decay of the structure continued right through to the beginning of the 19th century and it was not until the end of the 20th-century that significant improvements were made to the two Western towers to enhance the visitor experience with better all-weather access to explanatory materials and exhibits.

The Cathedral forms part of Elgin’s Castle to Cathedral to Cashmere Trail.

Image credits both aerial photos by Gilbert Pellegrom on Unsplash

‘Brig’ is the Scots word for “bridge”.

So, the Brig o’ Doon – made famous by Robert Burns – is the “Bridge over the River Doon”.

Craigellachie Brig is a cast-iron arch bridge over the River Spey.

The village of Craigellachie is near Aberlour and surrounded by whisky distillleries.

Though it was state-of-the-art for its time, it is only one lane wide.

The bridge was designed by the famous civil engineer, Thomas Telford. The construction was from 1812 to 1814.

It has a single span of about 150 feet and at its highest is about 33 feet above the tumbling waters below.

At each end of the structure there are two 50-foot high mock-medieval masonry towers, complete with arrow slits and miniature crenellated battlements.

Whilst current use of the bridge is restricted to pedestrians and cyclists, it was in regular use by vehicles until 1963. The single lane was a drawback, as was the fact that the road to the north of the bridge takes a sharp right hand turn to avoid a rockface, making it unsuitable for modern vehicles.

It was closed to vehicles in 1972.

At that time, a separate concrete bridge – with a carriageway for vehicles in each direction – was opened slightly downstream.

Telford’s bridge remains open to the public and is a fantastic structure in a memorable setting, with great views up and down the river and over towards Ben Rinnes.

The bridge inspired fiddle composer, William Marshall.

Marshall (1748 – 1833) was born in nearby Fochabers, Moray.

Robert Burns called him “the first composer of Strathspeys of the age”. And perhaps his most famous composition is the Strathspey “Craigellachie Brig”, created in honour of this structure.

In his book “The Fiddle Music of Scotland” (1979) James Hunter notes of this melody: “Marshall composed this magnificent strathspey, perhaps the finest in the whole repertoire, to celebrate the opening of the bridge over the River Spey at Craigellachie.”

Image credits: both aerial photos by Gilbert Pellegrom on Unsplash