Survey Data
Reg No
14824009
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Scientific, Technical
Previous Name
Bellmount Bridge
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1730 - 1770
Coordinates
207316, 222198
Date Recorded
05/10/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Five-arch masonry road bridge, built c.1750, carrying a minor road to Belmont over the River Brosna. Thick piers and dressed rubble voussoirs to arches, random coursed walls with roughly cut stone parapet. V-shaped cutwaters to upstream elevation. Square-shaped pedestrian refuges at road level to north-east wall. Semicircular profile arches. Upstream diagonally set weir which diverts water to Belmont Mill. Headrace flow through two smaller segmental arches at north end of the bridge. Located near the 33rd lock on the Grand Canal.
Appraisal
Belmont Bridge, on the River Brosna, is a finely executed crossing with notable eighteenth-century construction features which include pedestrian refuges or step-ins and relatively thick piers. It was formerly spelled Bellmount Bridge. V-shaped cutwaters and the nearby weir are notable elements. The purpose of the upstream cutwaters is to create a smooth flow and thus minimise eddies which may cause scouring and undercutting of the abutments and piers on the downstream side. It is one of the five five-arched bridges in County Offaly.