Survey Data
Reg No
41401002
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1835 - 1845
Coordinates
273290, 336756
Date Recorded
19/03/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Single-arch cut-stone humpback canal bridge, constructed c.1840, canal now disused. Coursed squared and snecked limestone walls having concrete blocks to parapet and tooled platband to base of parapet wall. Elliptical arch with ashlar voussoirs, and ashlar stone soffit to arch. Sited spanning former Ulster Canal with tow-path platform running underneath arch to north and remains of grass towpath to east.
Appraisal
Pipers Bridge is a fine stone bridge spanning the Ulster Canal, a now disused canal running from Lough Neagh to Lough Erne. The canal, built between 1825 and 1841, was 74km (46mi) long with 26 locks, but was an ill-considered venture, the locks narrower than the other Irish waterways, preventing through-trade, and with an inadequate water supply. It fell into rapid decline from the mid-nineteenth century and closed in 1931. Nonetheless this bridge represents an important part of Ireland's infrastructural history and is an interesting and attractive landmark in the Monaghan countryside. The bridge exhibits good-quality stone masonry and fine, crisp joints and stands as a tribute to the skill and engineering employed in canal bridge construction.