Bank of Scotland New notes feature famous bridges

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New notes feature famous bridges

Famous bridges feature on a brand new series of bank notes unveiled by a high street bank.

The Forth Bridge, the most instantly-recognisable landmark in the collection, is the new face of the Bank of Scotland's £20 note.

The bank said the fresh notes incorporate anti-counterfeiting technology and are more user friendly.

The series is the first new complete set of notes to be issued by the bank since 1995.

Treasurer Colin Matthew, whose signature features on the cash, said the bank was launching an awareness campaign to help familiarise people with the new designs.

"With this latest series, we are proud to continue our long history of issuing bank notes," he added.

Bank chiefs said the notes celebrate some of Scotland's major and most recognisable engineering achievements.

The 14th century-built Brig o' Doon, near Alloway in South Ayrshire, will be featured on the £5 note.

A single-arch stone bridge, it was made famous by Scots bard Robert Burns in his epic poem Tam O'Shanter.

The Glenfinnan Viaduct, on the West Highland Railway line between Fort William and Mallaig, will be celebrated on the new £10 note.

The £100 note will carry a picture of the Kessock Bridge, the road bridge which connects Inverness to the Black Isle.

And the most recent construction of the collection, the Falkirk Wheel, will be featured on the £50 note.

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The wheel, the world's only rotating boat-lift, reconnected the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal when it opened in 2002.

Network Rail chairman Ian McAllister welcomed the decision to picture the Forth Bridge, which crosses the Firth of Forth from South to North Queensferry, on the bank's most widely-circulated note.

He said: "The Forth Bridge is a magnificent structure, a symbol of lasting strength and one of the world's great landmarks.

"The Victorian engineers who designed and built the bridge could never have realised that the bridge would remain so iconic and so celebrated over 117 years after it was completed."

The last batch of notes was issued in 1995 to coincide with the bank's tercentenary.

The new series of notes is the 47th collection to be issued in the bank's 312-year history.

Officials said text on the notes will be larger than before, in a bid to make them easier for partially-sighted people to use. New security features have also been added.

It is estimated that it will take at least three years for the old bank notes to be phased out of circulation.

All denominations of the new notes will gradually become available from Bank of Scotland cash machines and branches from mid September.

The Bank of Scotland was the first bank in Europe to successfully issue bank notes, shortly after it was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1695.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6227690.stm

that 100 pound note is quite attractive.  is the scotch pound linked in value to the british pound (do they cost the same in CDN. dollars)?

Scottish banknotes are denominated in British pounds. There is no "Scottish Pound".

Thanks for the info.  I thought that was the case but since I'd not seen the Scottish notes, it made me wonder.  There's also talk about Scotland becoming independant of Britain (the party that won the last election is a seperatist party).  Seems similar to Canada's relationship with Quebec.