📌 Newstead, Scottish Borders
★★
Leaderfoot Viaduct’s 19 sandstone arches span the River Tweed a few miles downstream from Melrose. Its opening in 1863 fulfilled a prediction made several centuries earlier by local prophet Thomas Rhymer at the Rhymer’s Stone site a mile uphill from here. By 1981 the structure was in a poor state of repair and on the brink of being demolished, with trains having ceased to cross it 16 years before; campaigning and subsequent funding for repairs saved the day. The best viewpoint is probably on the old road bridge over the Tweed immediately east of the viaduct, signposted from the A68.
🌍 Location
📌 Off the A68 1 mi east of Newstead
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NT 574347
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.604509,-2.677944
🚌 Bus stops on A68 at bridge turnoff
🚗 Space to park at road end, 🧭 NT 576346 / 🛰️ 55.603055,-2.675750
📝 Key info
⌚Always open
🎫 Free
