118  DervorcILLA BALIOL AND OLD BRIDGE OF DUMFRIES. 
Alexander II. gave the monks (of Selkirk) a grant of land, and 
where the Abbot afterwards held his court of regality; but we 
have a very formal transaction recorded for leave to build a 
bridge across the rivulet of Blackburn, and to have passage for 
carts and waggons to and fro; and we find the bridge was 
designed to be of stone, in the middle of the thirteenth century.”’ 
It must be evident from the preceding particulars that the 
thirteenth century was a period of active bridge-building, pro- 
bably the chief era both in England and Scotland. 
Early bridges were, of course, subject to great vicissitudes. 
Generally they were well built, but their weak point was the 
foundation, which, unless on rock as at Dumfries, was liable to 
be undermined by the scour of the river; and improved modes of 
travelling, for which they were found altogether inadequate, 
necessitated in many cases their destruction, in order to be super- 
seded by structures adapted to modern needs. An instance is 
mentioned in Smiles’s “Lives of Engineers,’’ where a _post- 
chaise was obliged to retrace its route for fourteen miles on 
coming to an old bridge unfortunately too narrow by three or 
four inches to enable the vehicle to pass. 
I should mention that as crosses were reared at the fords, 
‘so, wherever a bridge was built, a chapel appears to have been 
founded, to which a priest was attached to pray for the soul of 
the founder, to receive passage money, and sometimes to pray 
with the passenger for the safe termination of his journey; 
usually it was placed over the centre pier, which was carried up 
for its support. 
Returning to the bridge of Dumfries, the structure, like all 
medieval work, displays some evidence of architectural art. 
Even the small culvert through the abutment before mentioned 
is furnished along the side walls with a neatly splayed and hewn 
projecting base-course, and the top appears to have been origi- 
nally closed by a pointed arch of early English form. The 
piers also show a similar base-course, and the outer angles of the 
soffits of the arches are neatly chamfered. Another point sug- 
gestive of early work is the thinness of the arch stones. Up to 
the parapets, which have evidently been rebuilt of rubble, the 
masonry of the bridge is squared ashlar in courses. The 
exposed parts are much weathered and patched by repairs, but 
the parts underground, which were exposed some years ago, 
