Survey Data
Reg No
11901307
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1785 - 1790
Coordinates
275887, 224441
Date Recorded
--/--/--
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Single-arch cut-stone hump back road bridge over canal, dated 1788, with dressed stone voussoirs, keystone and cut-stone parapet walls having oblong cut-stone date stone/plaque. Coursed cut-stone walls to abutments. Cut-stone walls to parapet walls. Cut-stone date stone/plaque. Cut-stone coping. Single segmental arch. Dressed stone voussoirs with keystone. Brick soffits. Sited spanning Grand Canal at junction of Athy and Milltown branches with tow path and grass banks to canal.
Appraisal
Huband Bridge is a fine cut-stone bridge that forms an imposing and attractive feature on the Grand Canal and is one of a group of bridges on the section of that canal that passes through County Kildare. The bridge is, however, of a design that is different from its counterparts on the canal and possibly reflects its unusual position at the junction of two individual branches (the Athy Branch and the Milltown Branch). 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. 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.