Survey Data
Reg No
40909810
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Bridge
Date
1750 - 1800
Coordinates
175197, 376537
Date Recorded
22/11/2007
Date Updated
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Description
Triple-arched bridge/causeway formerly carrying road over mouth of small unnamed stream/tidal estuary, built c. 1775. Now in use as a garden feature associated with Bruckless House (see 40909802) with lawn to former road deck. Round-headed arches having roughly squared voussoirs to arches; rubble stone construction to arch barrels. Rubble stone construction to spandrels, abutments and piers; rubble stone construction to parapets with modern concrete and blockwork repairs on places, particularly to the north end of the west elevation. Projecting rubble stone plinth/base. Located adjacent to Bruckless Harbour, and to the south-east of Bruckless House and the north-west/west of Dunkineely.
Appraisal
This simple but robust former bridge/causeway is an interesting feature in the rural landscape adjacent to Bruckless Harbour. It survives in relatively good condition despite some modern alterations to the parapets, and the fact that it is no longer in its original use and now forms a garden feature associated with Bruckless House (see 40909802) to the north-west. It is robustly-constructed using local unrefined masonry, which helps create quite a rustic composition, while its continued survival stands as testament to the quality of its original construction, and of the skill of the masons involved. This former bridge/causeway was probably originally built to carry the main Donegal Town to Killybegs Road, which now runs to the north and east of the original site (road moved during second half of the nineteenth century, and may be of considerable antiquity, perhaps dating to the second half of the eighteenth-century. This unassuming addition to the scenic landscape to the north-west/west of Dunkineely, and is a modest addition to the built heritage and transport history of the local area.