Friday November 7th 2025
Kalemouth Bridge which crosses the River Teviot
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Approval has been granted for refurbishment of a decaying Borders suspension bridge amid concerns that “it does not go far enough”.
Kalemouth Bridge, which crosses the River Teviot just above its confluence with the Kale Water near the village of Eckford, has been closed to traffic for five years.
The bridge, between Jedburgh and Kelso, is a Category ‘A’ Listed structure and a fine example of a historic wrought iron chain-bar suspension bridge with timber deck.
It closed to vehicular traffic in August 2020 when substantial decay was discovered in some of the main timber deck elements.
Now a planning bid submitted to Scottish Borders Council has been approved to replace all timber elements on the bridge, renew the diagonal bracing beneath the deck, rub-down and repaint ironwork where required and repoint and repair masonry.
These works will refurbish the bridge and allow it to be safely used by pedestrians and cyclists.
But members of Crailing and Nisbet Community Council, whilst supporting its reopening, hope that further progress can be made.
A spokesperson said: “The view of our council is that the bridge should be fully restored to enable it to carry light vehicles again, thus re-establishing the link between the Ormiston residents and the Eckford Community.
“We would be supportive of restricted vehicular access to the bridge and have asked for consideration to be given to a two-tonne weight limit for use.
“We are supportive of the work proposed in this planning application, which is the minimum that is required and needs urgent attention, but urge SBC to consider a more ambitious scheme to mark the imminent 200th anniversary of such a significant piece of our engineering heritage.”
A Kalemouth Friends Group had also hoped for a full refurbishment of the bridge but the costs of doing so are prohibitive at this time and a more limited upgrade was proposed.
A spokesperson said the proposed refurbishment will “go some way to achieving our aims”, adding: “We recognise that the costs associated with such a project are well beyond the council’s resources at present, even if they are successful with grant applications.
“These works will refurbish the bridge and allow the bridge to be safely used by pedestrians and cyclists.
“With the addition of interpretation boards this will allow the community to start developing the bridge as a ‘visitor attraction’ and preserve this important part of our area’s heritage.
“The bridge has served our community well for more than 180 years until, to our disappointment, it was closed to vehicular traffic in 2020.
“However, we fully understood that the bridge required refurbishment because of the ‘substantial decay’ in the wooden deck and to bring it up to modern safety standards.”
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