Documenting Britain

Chris Hurst — The Brief Charms of the B7088

My Documenting Britain project is The Brief Charms of the B7088. The B7088 is a short road across the Tweed, scarcely mentioned in maps or on official documents, little more than a bridge and a pair of roundabouts. It is the tally line across an ancient, arterial, long inhabited landscape.

Catcher

The territory to the South of the Tweed is a temporary zone, uncertain land, occasional riverbed. Before the advent of the B7088 this was Horsburgh Ford, well enough known to justify a level crossing on the railway but never a safe or comfortable crossing except for droughts at high summer.

The territory to the South of the Tweed is a temporary zone, uncertain land, occasional riverbed. Before the advent of the B7088 this was Horsburgh Ford, well enough known to justify a level crossing on the railway but never a safe or comfortable crossing except for droughts at high summer.

Given the alternative of trespass over a working rail bridge, a 6 mile land detour or rapid progress downstream the opportunity to stay on one side of the river or the other must have been an attractive one, though a short, dry crossing would have been a temptation to those with a sense of timing.

Given the alternative of trespass over a working rail bridge, a 6 mile land detour or rapid progress downstream the opportunity to stay on one side of the river or the other must have been an attractive one, though a short, dry crossing would have been a temptation to those with a sense of timing.

The south end of the bridge is overlooked by a platelayers’ hut, a mid 20th Century prefabrication - tool store, shelter and bait room for the linesmen, gatekeepers of the further shore.

The south end of the bridge is overlooked by a platelayers’ hut, a mid 20th Century prefabrication - tool store, shelter and bait room for the linesmen, gatekeepers of the further shore.