Survey Data

Reg No

16400901


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Scientific, Technical


Original Use

Bridge


In Use As

Bridge


Date

1820 - 1840


Coordinates

294656, 208447


Date Recorded

07/08/2003


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Single-arch road bridge over the River Liffey, built in c.1830 to designs by Alexander Nimmo. The bridge rises from rocks either at side of the gorge and is constructed in rubble with the large pointed arch encased with a prominent moulded voussoirs. Either side of the arch (to both faces of the bridge) are canted projections which rise through and above the parapets to form crenellated refuges. The outer faces of the refuges are clad with decorative stone panels. The parapets themselves are in rubble with dressed coping, however much of the eastern parapet (including its refuges) is a late 20th-century reconstruction.

Appraisal

Despite modern work to the eastern parapet this bridge is perhaps the most distinctive structure of its type in the whole county and an important piece of engineering in its own right.