Twizel Bridge

Regarded as one of the country's finest medieval bridges, Twizel Bridge was of huge importance as back in the day it provided the only dry crossing over the River Till between Etal and the Tweed.

From the car parking area it's just a short walk before you are standing on a bridge steeped in history as it was here that both the English and the Scottish crossed the Till on the way to the Battle Of Flodden.

King James IV of Scotland and his forces would have crossed the bridge to move east and west along the southern shore of the River Tweed.

Then on the morning of the battle (9 September 1513), around 10,000 English troops (including a cannon) crossed the bridge to head west to outflank the Scottish army on Flodden Hill.

Local legend suggests that it was built by a lady of the Selby family, whose seat was Twizel Castle nearby. The bridge is described by the antiquary Francis Grose in his "The Antiquities of England and Wales" as "Twisle Bridge of Stone, one bow, but greate and stronge".

The arch of the bridge is 27 metres wide and was the largest single-span arch from its completion in 1511 until 1727. The bridge carried the main A698 road from Hawick to Berwick-upon-Tweed until 1983, when a modern bridge was completed immediately to the south.

The bridge was slightly altered in the 18th century when the grounds of Twizel Castle were landscaped.