Survey Data
Reg No
41401224
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
Date
1855 - 1865
Coordinates
252556, 327088
Date Recorded
05/05/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Single-arch railway bridge, built c.1860, carrying road over Portadown and Cavan Branch of Ulster Railway. Segmental arch having rock-faced rusticated and margined sandstone voussoirs, cut sandstone soffits. Tapered projecting buttresses flanking arch. Abutments terminating in projecting piers. Snecked, coursed, rock-faced rusticated sandstone to spandrel walls, parapet walls, abutments and buttresses. Dressed limestone impost course and parapet copings. Line infilled underneath bridge, west elevation inaccessible.
Appraisal
Although the railway cutting has been significantly infilled, this bridge constituted an important piece of road and railway infrastructure. The quality of its construction is testament to the skill and craftsmanship of railway engineers in the nineteenth century. Dressed plat-bands and copings, and rock-faced rusticated voussoirs, provide a contrast to the random rock-faced walls. The Portadown and Cavan Branch of the Ulster Railway, later the Great Northern Railway, provided a transport link in this area which was indicative of both the commercial productivity of the area and increased communication and inter-dependency throughout the country at the time. An integral component part of this network, this bridge is an important reminder of the industrial heritage of the area.