Survey Data
Reg No
31212192
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Technical
Original Use
Viaduct
Date
1890 - 1895
Coordinates
100379, 284373
Date Recorded
15/08/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Nine-arch railway viaduct over river, dated 1892[?]; opened 1894. Closed, 1934. Reopened, 1936. Closed, 1937. Now disused. Part creeper- or ivy-covered tuck pointed snecked rock faced limestone walls centred on tuck pointed snecked rock faced limestone battered piers with drag edged rock faced cut-limestone stringcourses supporting parapets having drag edged rock faced cut-limestone coping. Series of nine segmental arches with drag edged rock faced limestone ashlar voussoirs centred on drag edged rock faced cut-limestone keystones. Sited spanning Westport or Carrowbeg River with wooded banks to river.
Appraisal
An impressive viaduct erected to a design attributed to William Barrington (1825-95) of Limerick (Gould 1998, 220-1) widely regarded as a particularly important component of the late nineteenth-century civil engineering heritage of Westport on account of the connections with the extension of the Mayo Branch of the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) line (opened 1894) by the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) Company with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the contemporary viaduct at Newport (see 31208018), confirmed not only by the rock faced surface finish demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also by the elegant "sweep" of the arches making a dramatic visual statement at a crossing over the Westport or Carrowbeg River.