Survey Data
Reg No
15313005
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
In Use As
Bridge
Date
1780 - 1860
Coordinates
260085, 253017
Date Recorded
28/07/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Triple-arched road bridge, built c.1800 and altered c.1860, comprising a single-arched bridge over the River Dell to the east with two-arches to the west spanning dried river bed/former mill race. Flanking rock-faced cut stone piers on square-plan with cut stone copping over to either side of arch to the east. Two arches to the west now infilled and in use as storage sheds. Constructed using rubble limestone with rubble stone parapet walls to the western part. Rock-faced voussoirs to arch to the east end with dressed limestone voussoirs to the arches on the west end. Located to the centre of Raharney village.
Appraisal
A well-built bridge, of two distinct dates, which retains its early form and fabric. It is well-built using local rubble limestone, attesting to the skillful craftsmanship available at the time of its construction. The form of the two arches to the west end suggests that this bridge was originally built by the Grand Jury, c.1800. This section probably spanned a millrace associated with a corn mill, which lay just to the north of this bridge but is now longer extant. The good quality heavily rusticated masonry to the section to the east end is a typical feature of the many bridges built by Board of Works in the mid nineteenth-century, particularly between c.1847-60, suggesting that they may have been responsible for its construction. This bridge represents an important element of the civil engineering Heritage of County Westmeath and is an attractive structure in its own right. This bridge is part of the local infrastructure and as such is of social significance.