Union Chain Bridge recognised with a Red Wheel

A major project to restore the 204-year-old structure was completed last year.

Unveiling the Red Wheel, former MP and MSP and descendent of one of those that funded the bridge, John Home Robertson, said: “Thanks for inviting me to do the honours – not so much as a former local MP, but also as a family successor to George Home of Paxton who attended the meeting at the Hen & Chickens Inn in Berwick in 1818 to consider the selection of Captain Sam Brown’s revolutionary design for this wrought iron suspension bridge.”

The design of what is the oldest vehicular chain suspension bridge in the world allowed a crossing of the river at a fraction of the cost of a stone arch bridge, which was the only realistic alternative at the time.

Up to then, a very hazardous ford had claimed many lives.