Description

The monument comprises a stone clapper bridge, sited above the outflow of the Barnagad Burn into Loch Sween, just to the south of Achnamara.

The footway of the bridge is built of two massive tapered flags, the S one measuring 4m long by 0.6-0.8m wide, and the N one measuring 3m long by 0.7-0.9m wide, both slabs being about 0.1m thick. The flags are supported at each end by drystone abutment piers, and the narrower ends of the flags rest on a central drystone pier, all three piers being about 1.4m high, and constructed of large thick stone slabs.

The narrower ends of the two flags forming the footway each have a hole in them, diameter 0.1m, presumably for ropes or slings used to manoevre them into position. A documentary reference suggests that the bridge was built by the Laird of Oib Graham in 1684, as a fine imposed by the Kirk Session of Knapdale parish for 'delinquency'.

The area to be scheduled is rectangular, 20m NE-SW by 8m NW-SE, to include the bridge and an area around in which evidence relating to its construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as the last surviving example of a group of stone clapper bridges in mid-Argyll, in an excellent state of preservation, and with documentary references relating to its origin and date.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NR 78 NE 18.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland