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Stirling Old Bridge is a stone bridge which crosses the River Forth. For over 300 years it provided the lowest crossing point of the Forth and so had strategic importance.^[1]

Old Bridge
Stirling Old Bridge, viewed from the road bridge

The stone bridge was constructed on rubble foundations around 1500 and replaced earlier wooden bridges, including that on which the Battle of Stirling Bridge was fought.

An ancient bridge which is no longer accessible to vehicular traffic, the Old Bridge crosses the River Forth a half-mile (0.8 km) northeast of the centre of Stirling, between Laurencecroft Road and Bridgehaugh Road. This substantial bridge was constructed around 1500 and served as the lowest crossing over the Forth for almost four centuries. Gifford and Walker state it was "perhaps the most strategically important river crossing in all Scotland, yet strangely quiet and detached from the town."

Comprising four semi-circular arches and measuring 81.6m (268 feet) in length, it replaced earlier bridges including one built of wood and located just to the north, where William Wallace (1274 - 1305) defeated the Edward I in 1297. Duties were once levied on goods crossing the bridge.

Now Category A-listed for its historical importance, it was on the Old Bridge that John Hamilton (1547-71), Archbishop of St. Andrews, was put to death. He was executed in his full regalia having been linked to the murders of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1545-67), and James Stuart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531-70). In 1745, the southernmost arch was blown up by General Blakeney to prevent the Jacobites from crossing and entering Stirling, but it was later rebuilt.

The bridge originally had arches at either end and a defensive gate at the end nearer the burgh. Tolls were levied on goods being taken across the bridge. 

In December 1745 General Blakeney, lieutenant governor of Stirling Castle, had one of the bridge arches destroyed to hinder the movement of the Jacobite Army. The destroyed arch was rebuilt in 1749.

In May 1833 the adjacent new road bridge was opened to traffic and the Old Bridge was closed to wheeled traffic. 

The bridge was designated as a Category A Listed Building in 1965.

Stirling Old Bridge is one of only a small number of medieval stone bridges surviving in Scotland. It was probably built c.1500 and remained the lowest principal crossing-point over the River Forth until 1832, when it was closed to wheeled traffic following the construction of the 'new bridge' nearby. The 'old bridge' continues in use as a pedestrian crossing. The bridge, 82m long and built of squared rubble, is formed of four semi-circular arches supported on three piers with triangular cut-waters, above which are refuges on the bridge carriageway itself. Archways once guarded the approaches and the refuges were originally roofed.

Historical Overview:

• 1297 - the Scottish host, commanded by William Wallace and Andrew Moray, defeats an English army at the battle of Stirling Bridge (11 Sept), one of the most strategic crossing-points in medieval Scotland.

• 1361/91 - a ferry replaces the bridge, probably because of its poor condition.

• 1407 - the bridge is described as very ruinous on account of its great age.

• c.1500 - the present bridge (the Old Bridge) is built to replace the previous (timber?) bridge.

• 1502 - a chapel at Bridge-end, for use by sick folk, is mentioned in the Exchequer Rolls. This is very probably the 'St Roque's Chapel' mentioned as being at the Bridge-end of Stirling in 1503, and in which James IV gives two offerings in 1505.

• 1527 – James V crosses the bridge following his escape from Falkland Palace.

• 1571 - Archbishop John Hamilton of St Andrews is executed in Stirling. Local tradition has it he is hanged from a gibbet erected on the bridge.

• 1745 - General Blakeney, commanding the government garrison in Stirling Castle, orders the destruction of the bridge's most southerly arch to prevent Prince Charles Edward's Jacobite army from entering Stirling in the early days of the '45 Rising.

• 1749 - the destroyed south arch is rebuilt.

• 1831/2 - the bridge is closed to wheeled traffic following the opening of a new road bridge a short distance down-river, designed by Robert Stevenson.

• 1911 – the 'old bridge' is taken into state care. Archaeological Overview:

• In 1905, the foundations of two piers from an earlier bridge were found a short distance up-stream. This predecessor bridge probably had a wooden superstructure. 2/4

The Old Bridge is believed to date to the late 15th- / early 16th-century. It measures 82m in length, with a carriageway 4.5m wide. Built of coursed squared rubble, the structure comprises four semi-circular arches spanning the river, which are carried on three piers built on massive oval foundations. Each pier has triangular cut-waters. Those closest to the banks are finished with splayed tops about half-way up to the parapets, while those on the central piers continue up to the parapets in square form, where they serve as pedestrian refuges. The refuges were originally roofed, their walls continuing into crowstepped gables. At either end of the bridge was an archway, fitted with gates (as illustrated in one of John Slezer’s drawings). The arches were removed in the 1700s and replaced by the present small square pillars topped with pyramidal fins. The roofs of the refuges were removed around the same time.

The bridge is intimately associated with William Wallace, although it wasn't the actual bridge associated in popular consciousness with his famous victory over Edward I's English army in 1297. This continues a historic trend, for an image of a stone bridge appears on the medieval seals of the burgh council.  It is not known how the bridge was incorporated into the late medieval spiritual life of the town. However, the Treasurer’s Accounts for 1506-7, and the Registers of the Great Seal in the 16th and 17th centuries mention a chapel dedicated to St Roque (also Rocco/Roch) at the Bridgend of Stirling. The legendary French-born saint (born c.1295) is associated with curing people during the Black Death. Stirling Old Bridge is the only known location of the saint's cult in Scotland.