Scheduled Monument
Old Leckie, bridge, 85m SW of Old Leckie CottageSM2554
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 11/08/1966
- Last Date Amended
- 14/07/2026
- Type
- Secular: bridge
- Local Authority
- Stirling
- Planning Authority
- Stirling
- Parish
- Gargunnock
- NGR
- NS 69052 94519
- Coordinates
- 269052, 694519
Description
The monument comprises a bridge of 17th century date, which in the 18th century was incorporated into the military way between Kippen and Gargunnock. The bridge survives as a stone built single arched structure measuring about 13m in length and 2m in width. It spans the Leckie Burn, at about 30m above sea level.
The bridge is built of roughly coursed rubble with long thin slabs, or voussoirs, forming the arch rings. It has a single semicircular arch with a span of about 3.4m, rising to about 2.7m above the Leckie Burn. A stone set into the parapet on the south side of the bridge bears the incised inscription 1673 / EX BENEVOLENTIA / OB SALUTEM ("(Built) out of benevolence, for safety's sake").
The scheduled area is rectangular. It includes the remains described above and an area around within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.
Statement of National Importance
The monument is of national importance as it makes a significant contribution to our understanding or appreciation of the past as a surviving arch bridge dating to the 17th century. It has the potential to add to our understanding of period of road improvements in Scotland in the 17th century. As the bridge is inscribed with its date of construction, it can inform our understanding of the development of this form of bridge, and the programme of road improvements in Stirlingshire to which it relates. The monument is a particularly good surviving example of a 17th century arch bridge and is therefore an important representative of this monument type. The monument makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the historic landscape by adding to our knowledge of route networks in the Modern period. Study of this monument along with similar bridges and military ways dating to this time period has the potential to significantly add to our understanding of the importance of routeways in the 17th century, and the economic changes which necessitated the improvement of the road networks.
The monument has significant associations with historical events and movements. The monument was built four years after the passing of the 1669 'Act for repairing High ways and Bridges', and appears to be a direct response to wider movements to improve routeways in Stirlingshire during this part of the 17th century. When the military road between Dumbarton and Stirling was constructed between 1770 and 1780, the monument was utilised to carry the section between Kippen and Gargunnock. The road was built as part of a wider networks of routes for use by Government forces to control the Scottish Highlands and as such the monument has a significant association with the transformation of the society and culture of the Scottish Highlands in the 18th century in the years following the Jacobite Risings.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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