Survey Data
Reg No
11810017
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1780 - 1785
Coordinates
266861, 218917
Date Recorded
12/06/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Single-arch cut-stone hump back road bridge over canal, dated 1784, with cut-stone voussoirs and coping. Part repointed, c.1990. Coursed cut-stone walls and curved flanking walls with squinch arches to flanking walls having cut-stone voussoirs. Part repointed, c.1990. Cut-stone date stone/plaque. Cut-stone coping. Single round arch. Dressed stone voussoirs and keystone. Rubble stone soffits with render over having cut-stone stringcourse to spring of arch. Sited spanning Grand Canal (Athy Branch) with grass banks to canal having cut-stone retaining walls.
Appraisal
Spencer Bridge is a fine stone bridge that forms an imposing feature on the Grand Canal (Athy Branch) and is one of a group of bridges on the section of that canal that passes through County Kildare. The construction of the arch that has retained its original shape is of technical and engineering merit. The bridge exhibits good quality stone masonry and fine, crisp joints – recent (c.1990) repointing to some sections of the bridge has not had a positive impact on the appearance of the stone work, however. The bridge is of considerable historical and social significance as a reminder of the canal network development in Ireland, which brought about many technical advances and developed commercial activity in the late eighteenth century.