Historedia
Episode 2 of 3

Official Opening

When
4 March 1890
Where
Firth of Forth
Part of
Forth Bridge opened to rail traffic

The Duke of Rothesay officially opened the bridge on 4 March 1890, driving the final gold-plated rivet.

The ceremony took place on 4 March 1890. The Duke of Rothesay, later King Edward VII, performed the symbolic act of driving home the last rivet. This rivet was gold-plated and inscribed, marking the completion of the structure.

Sources

  1. Forth Bridge Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-22
  2. North Queensferry Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-03

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.