VICTORIA BRIDGE.

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The oldest of Glasgow's bridges over the River Clyde is also the site of the very first bridge built across the river more than 650 years ago. (1350)
Victoria Bridge, previously known as Stockwell Street Bridge and Glasgow Bridge, links Gorbals Street on the south bank with the Bridgegate on the north.
It is on the site of a medieval wooden bridge built during the 14th Century.
Replaced by a stone bridge built by Bishop Rae around 1345, for more than four cunturies it was the farthest down-river crossing on the Clyde.
It had eight stone arches and rose steeply to 40ft above water level.
Carrying a 415ft long roadway, and only 12ft wide, its strength was somewhat lacking and in 1671 one of its arches collapsed and had to be repaired.
From the 1760's cart traffic was all but prohibited and five arches filled to increase its strength.
In 1821 the famous engineer Thomas Telford widened the bridge with elegant cast-iron arches to support footpaths on either side but in 1847 it was sadly demolished.
In 1851 work on a new bridge began.
Completed in 1854, Victoria Bridge was the last of the city's wooden pile bridges.
Its five sandstone arches, the largest spanning 80ft, are faced with light coloured Kingstown granite from Dublin.

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