Note 151 — Chapter XXIII · FALL OF LORD BEACONSFIELD.

The gap torn out of the bridge—the whole length of which was 10,612 feet—measured 3,300 feet. Of the eighty-five spans, the first twenty-seven from the Fife coast were left intact. Then came thirteen of which only the stonework remained, everything else being swept away. This left forty-five spans on the northern side standing. The bridge had been tested and certified as safe by Government inspectors. An inquiry was ordered into the disaster, which showed that the bridge was, in the words of Mr. Rothery, one of the Court of Inquiry, “badly designed, badly constructed, and badly maintained.” For the mishap the engineer—Sir Thomas Bouch—was held “mainly to blame.” The bridge, which from a distance looked like a long plank set up on pipe-shanks, cost £500,000. It was opened on the 30th of May, 1878.