Survey Data
Reg No
41401254
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
Date
1855 - 1865
Coordinates
255024, 328505
Date Recorded
05/05/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Triple-arch railway bridge, built c.1860, carrying Portadown and Cavan Branch of Ulster Railway over River Finn. Outer arches dry. Segmental arches having rock-faced rusticated and margined stone voussoirs, cut-stone soffits, and with U-shaped cutwaters to central piers. Tapered projecting buttresses and curved wing walls to abutments to each elevation. Coursed rock-faced rusticated stone to spandrel walls, parapet walls, abutments and buttresses. Dressed limestone platbands at impost level and running over arch-rings. Dressed limestone coping to parapets and wing-walls.
Appraisal
Although no longer in use, this substantial bridge served an important function in maintaining a level gradient for the railway, allowing it to proceed over natural obstacles, and as such, is representative of the skill and experience of railway engineers in the nineteenth century. It is a strong focal point on the landscape, enlivened by U-shaped cut-waters, dressed plat-bands and rock-faced voussoirs. The Portadown and Cavan Branch of the Ulster Railway, later the Great Northern Railway, provided a transport link in this area which was indicative of both the commercial productivity of the area and increased communication and interdependence throughout the country at the time. An integral component part of this network, this bridge is an important reminder of the industrial heritage of the area.