Survey Data
Reg No
11819013
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1840 - 1860
Coordinates
284182, 209697
Date Recorded
--/--/--
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Six-arch rubble stone road bridge over river, c.1850, with triangular cut-waters to north and ashlar voussoirs. Extensively renovated and widened, c.1970, comprising six-span parallel bridge to north incorporating piers of earlier bridge. Rubble stone walls (rebuilt, c.1970, to north). Cut-stone triangular cut-waters to north. Replacement iron railings, c.1970, to parapet wall with remains of rubble stone parapet wall incorporated as intermediary piers. Six round arches to south. Ashlar voussoirs. Rubble stone soffits with render over. Six flat spans to north. Reinforced concrete lintels. Reinforced concrete to under side of spans. Sited spanning River Liffey with landscaped banks to river.
Appraisal
Kilcullen Bridge is a fine stone bridge that forms the centre of the village of Kilcullen - a bridge has been in existence at this point since the fourteenth century - and an imposing feature on the River Liffey, and is one of a group of bridges on the section of that river that passes through County Kildare. The construction of the original arches that have retained their original shape is of technical and engineering merit – similarly the replacement spans to north are of technical engineering merit as an example of late twentieth-century bridge building. The bridge exhibits good quality stone masonry and fine, crisp joints, notably to the ashlar voussoirs. The bridge is of considerable historical and social significance as a reminder of the road network development in Ireland in the mid nineteenth century and as evidence of growing commuter/national traffic that necessitated the widening of the bridge.