Survey Data

Reg No

11803103


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Scientific, Technical


Original Use

Bridge


In Use As

Foot bridge


Date

1790 - 1800


Coordinates

293998, 237405


Date Recorded

07/02/2003


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Single-arch bridge over canal, built 1795. Bypassed, 1995. Now in alternative use. Repointed rubble stone walls between part creeper- or ivy-covered repointed rubble stone battered abutment walls with tooled cut-limestone rounded coping to parapets centred on weathered cut-limestone panel (east). Single elliptical or pseudo three-centred arch with repointed drag edged tooled limestone ashlar voussoirs. Sited spanning Royal Canal with flagged towpath to canal.

Appraisal

A bridge identified as an important component of the late eighteenth-century civil engineering heritage of Maynooth on account of the connections with the development of the Royal Canal (opened 1796) with the architectural value of the composition confirmed not only by the deep grey limestone dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also by the elegant "sweep" of the arch making a pleasing visual statement at a crossing over the canal: meanwhile, a much weathered benchmark remains of additional interest for the connections with cartography and the preparation of maps by the Ordnance Survey (established 1824).