DEVORGILLA BALIOL AND OLD BRIDGE OF DumrFrRIES. 117 
land, probably out-weighed all others in respect to the mass of 
masonry it contained. Its erection occupied thirty-three years, 
the work being commenced in 1176 and finished in 1209. A 
priest, Peter of Colchurch, was the architect. It consisted of 
twenty arches, proportionately narrow, the piers being nearly as. 
wide. The roadway was nine hundred and twenty-six feet in 
length, and from end to end it was enclosed by lofty timber 
houses. On the centre pier was the chapel with its tower, and 
at the ends were the gate-houses, on which were stuck upon 
poles the heads of traitors and unfortunate partisans, it might 
be as many as thirty at one time. This old bridge carried safely 
across the river the traffic of London for six hundred years. 
A famous bridge, and the longest in England, spanned the: 
Trent at Burton, built in the thirteenth century by Abbot 
Bernard. Its length was fifteen hundred and forty-five feet, 
embracing no fewer than thirty-four arches. It was only 
recently removed. 
Chester bridge and others in England were built about the 
same period, and Scotland was not without examples, as the 
following interesting and instructive passages from Cosmo 
Innes’s “Sketches’’ show. Page 157:—“ When we consider 
the long and united efforts required in the early state of the arts. 
for throwing a bridge over any considerable river, the early 
occurrence of bridges may be well admitted as one of the best 
tests of civilisation and national prosperity. The bridge over the 
North water (of stone) has already been mentioned. We find a 
bridge existing over the Esk at Brechin, and the land of 
Drumsleid appropriated for its support in the early part of the 
thirteenth century. In that age there was a bridge over the Tay 
at Perth; bridges over the Esk at Brechin-and Marykirk; a 
bridge over the Dee at Kincardine O’Neil, probably another at 
Durris, one near Aberdeen, and one at the mouth of Glenmuick ; 
even a bridge over the rapid Spey at Orkill. If we reflect how 
few of these survived the middle of the fourteenth century, and 
how long it was and by what painful efforts before they could 
be replaced in later times, we may form some idea of the great 
progress in civilisation which Scotland had made during the reigm 
of William and the peaceful times of the two Alexanders.’’ 
Page 194:—“ We are not informed of what materials the bridge 
of Ettrick was constructed, for the support of which King 
