Wade's Bridge

{{Short description|Bridge at Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, Scotland}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Use British English|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox Bridge

| bridge_name = Wade's Bridge

| image = Wade's Bridge Aberfeldy.jpg

| caption = The bridge in 2022

| other_name = Tay Bridge

| carries =

| crosses = River Tay

| locale = Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, Scotland

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| length = {{convert|112|m|0}}

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| open = {{start date and age|1733}}

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| architect = William Adam

| coordinates = {{coord|56.6215|-3.8737|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}

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Wade's Bridge (originally known as Tay Bridge) is five-arch bridge crossing the River Tay at Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. A Category A listed structure built in 1733,[https://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst140.html Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland], Francis Hindes Groome (1901) to a design by William Adam, it carries the pedestrian and vehicle traffic of Poplar Avenue.[https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB20861 Tay Bridge] – Historic Environment Scotland Erected for the Board of Ordnance, to the order of Lieutenant General George Wade, its original purpose was as a military road linking the garrisons at Ruthven, Fort George, Fort Augustus and Fort William.{{cite book|last=Mackenzie|first=Sir Kenneth|title=Paper entitled General Wade & his Roads|publisher=Inverness Scientific Society|date=13 April 1897}}

The stone was quarried, cut and tooled at nearby Bolfracks. In 1932, two tablets with copies of Wade's original inscriptions were let into the stonework of two obelisk plinths; one in English and one in Latin. These state that the bridge was begun in April 1733 and finished by January; however, this is not strictly true, as General Wade stopped work for the winter, leaving the bridge without parapets over the side arches. These were added the following year.