Survey Data
Reg No
12318004
Rating
National
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Scientific, Social, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1760 - 1770
Coordinates
270996, 143599
Date Recorded
17/05/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Seven-arch hump back road bridge over river, built 1764-7. Damaged, 1798. Part creeper- or ivy-covered coursed rubble limestone walls centred on submerged triangular cutwaters to piers having cut-granite pyramidal capping with cut-granite coping to parapets. Series of seven segmental arches between round-headed niches with rusticated cut-granite block-and-start voussoirs centred on cut-granite double keystones. Sited spanning River Barrow with grass banks to river.
Appraisal
A bridge erected to designs attributed to George Smith (fl. 1760-79) of Kilkenny (Cox and Gould 1998, 93-4) representing an important component of the eighteenth-century civil engineering heritage of County Kilkenny with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the Smith-designed Green's Bridge (1766; see 12004007) and Castlecomer Bridge (1763; see 12301001), confirmed not only by the silver-grey granite dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also by the elegant "sweep" of the arches making a pleasing visual statement at a crossing over the River Barrow: meanwhile, the bridge remains of additional interest for the connections with the 1798 Insurrection when a Crown Force-initiated explosion attempted to impede the progress of rebels from neighbouring County Carlow.