Survey Data
Reg No
13400516
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1850 - 1870
Coordinates
216899, 289770
Date Recorded
15/06/2009
Date Updated
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Description
Single-arch road bridge over Black River built c. 1860. Segmental-headed arch having rock-faced limestone voussoirs with dressed margins. Squared coursed rock-faced limestone spandrel walls, parapets and abutments. Squared dressed limestone masonry to barrel. Projecting piers (on square-plan) to either side of arch, constructed of coursed rock-faced limestone. Parapets overgrown with vegetation having concrete coping. Rubble stone wing walls to either end of bridge (northeast and southwest), possibly fabric from earlier bridge to site. Located to the north/northeast of Drumlish.
Appraisal
A robustly-built small-scale bridge, of mid nineteenth-century appearance, which is a pleasing feature in the rural landscape to the extreme southeast corner of County Longford. This bridge shows evidence of highly skilled craftsmanship in its stonemasonry throughout. The good quality heavily rock-faced masonry is a typical feature of the many bridges built throughout Ireland by the Board of Works in the mid nineteenth-century, and particularly between c. 1847 - 60, suggesting that they may have been responsible for its construction. This bridge is similar in form to a number of other bridges in north County Longford, which suggests that it was built as part of a general drainage and/or bridge building programme. The present structure replaced an earlier bridge at this site (Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map 1838), and possibly incorporates fabric of this earlier bridge to either end of the parapets. This simple structure adds historic interest to its pleasant rural location, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area.