{"id":2178882,"date":"2026-10-04T07:02:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T04:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2178882"},"modified":"2026-10-04T07:02:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T04:02:42","slug":"painting-of-dryburgh-bridge-found-on-back-of-map-after-150-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2178882","title":{"rendered":"Painting of Dryburgh bridge found on back of map after 150 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/cf10\/live\/ba637c90-bc25-11f1-bd53-1b67dc8fba34.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"BGS\/UKRIBGS\/UKRI<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Luis Albornoz-Parra was researching the building stones of Dryburgh Abbey when he made the find<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A striking watercolour of a bridge in the Scottish Borders, which had gone unnoticed in archives for more than 150 years, has been found by accident on the back of a geological map.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Luis Albornoz-Parra, of the British Geological Survey (BGS), stumbled on the artwork while carrying out research for Historic Environment Scotland (HES) on the building stones of Dryburgh Abbey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The painting of the Dryburgh Suspension Bridge – on the back of geological field notes – is believed to have been painted by Benjamin Peach while conducting field work in the 1870s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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BGS said the artwork offered a “snapshot of the iconic crossing” and is thought to be from just a year after it opened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Albornoz-Parra was looking through old field slips – the original maps that geologists fill with field observations while mapping the rocks of an area – when he uncovered the painting in the archives at The Lyell Centre in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I was charmed by the quality of the watercolour and wanted to share it with my colleagues,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Mostly I was fascinated by the fact that Peach was an excellent geologist and palaeontologist – his geological studies and theories still stand – but he was also such an excellent artist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I can imagine him having a lunchtime break from all the geological mapping, during which he would be drawing the watercolour.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BGS\/UKRIBGS\/UKRI<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Peach was an accomplished painter as well as a geologist<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"JimJim Barton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The current bridge, believed to feature in the watercolour, is the third one to have been built at the site and was completed in 1872<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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BGS said the work provided a “unique record of the Victorian landscape” around Dryburgh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It was found while looking through early field slips to gather more information about the area’s abbey, which is currently undergoing restoration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The first bridge at the spot was built in 1817 to replace a ferry, but it lasted only a year before being blown down in a gale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A replacement lasted a bit longer before it, too, collapsed in stormy weather in 1838.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The third bridge, which is still standing, was completed in 1872 and it is believed to have been captured by Peach’s artwork a year later when he was known to be conducting fieldwork in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The bridge sits close to the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Daniel Burgess, BGS geological data steward, said: “Field slips have always been a vital tool for geologists since the inception of the survey in the 19th Century, as a way of recording important observations, measurements and notes whilst out in the field.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It was not unusual for geologists, who are often out in the field for weeks at a time, to sketch the landscapes that have been shaped by the underlying geology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“In this example, Peach is showing how the tough volcanic rocks of the Eildon Hills dominate the landscape around Dryburgh.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said that their records did occasionally throw up a “welcome surprise” and they knew “almost instantly” it was one of Peach’s artworks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Peach worked at BGS from 1862 until his retirement in 1905.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alongside his geological work, he produced hundreds of sketches and paintings during his field surveys.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He also played a pivotal role in resolving the Highlands Controversy – one of the most significant geological debates of the 19th Century about how different layers of rock came to be in their current location. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Peach and others eventually resolved it through fieldwork which showed that older layers or rock had ended up on top of younger strata because of huge thrust faults. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The geological field map is now stored in the BGS archives, alongside approximately 40,000 other items, which include administrative records and the papers of BGS staff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cmp8d622dxe2o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/cf10\/live\/ba637c90-bc25-11f1-bd53-1b67dc8fba34.jpg”] BGS\/UKRI Luis Albornoz-Parra was researching the building stones of Dryburgh Abbey when he made the find A striking watercolour of a bridge in the Scottish Borders, which had gone unnoticed in archives for more than 150 years, has been found by accident on the back of a geological map. Luis Albornoz-Parra, of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2178882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2178882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2178882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2178882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2178882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2178882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}