The swing bridge design was necessary to allow the passage of shipping up and downstream at a time when Stirling was still an active port.

[2] The bridge was designed by the consulting civil engineers, Crouch and Hogg, and built by contractors Watt and Wilson, both of Glasgow.

[2][3][5] Several aerial and deck level photographs of the bridge that illustrate the layout of the structure are available from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

In August 1920, a German warship, surrendered at the end of the First World War, broke free from its moorings and crashed into the bridge.

[6] Trains continued to bring coal to the swing bridge engine house until this was fixed in the open position for river traffic in May 1970.