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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Forth
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River which flows 105km/65m east from the Central region of Scotland into the Firth of Forth; the firth stretches a further 77km/48m to the North Sea. The river is tidal to Stirling, but the firth is taken as starting further downstream at Kincardine. At its narrowest point (Queensferry, where it is 1.6km/1m wide) it was crossed in 1890 by the great cantilever railway bridge, with two central spans each of 521m/1710ft. This was designed by John *Fowler with a very wide margin of safety because of the recent collapse of the *Tay bridge. It is part of British folklore that the task of painting the bridge is unending; the steel struts have a combined surface area of 55ha/135ac. A little way upstream is the suspension bridge carrying the road, with a central span of 1005m/3300ft, which was opened in 1964 (designed by Gilbert Roberts).
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