Survey Data
Reg No
41400605
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1800 - 1805
Coordinates
266280, 343179
Date Recorded
30/03/2012
Date Updated
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Description
Single-arch bridge over stream, built 1801. Repointed tooled limestone ashlar walls between repointed tooled limestone ashlar piers with cut-limestone coping to parapets. Single segmental arch between repointed tooled limestone ashlar domed piers with repointed margined tooled limestone ashlar voussoirs centred on margined cut-limestone keystones. Sited spanning Mountain Water with wooded banks to stream.
Appraisal
A bridge built by Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Anketell (né Ancketill) (1756-1828) of Anketell Grove making a pleasing visual statement at a crossing over the wooded Mountain Water. A recent plaque (1997) claims the novelist William Carleton (1794-1869) 'mentions [Blue Bridge] frequently in his writings' and it may be the 'beautiful bridge' described in The Fair of Emyvale as 'spanning a sweet stream...dimpled by the leaping trouts as they rose to the myriad of flies which in fatal security disported themselves upon its surface'.