Survey Data
Reg No
40815031
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
Date
1895 - 1905
Coordinates
234984, 431621
Date Recorded
11/09/2008
Date Updated
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Description
Four\five-arch railway bridge carrying former Buncrana to Carndonagh section of the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway line over the Mill River, built c. 1901. Now disused. Segmental-headed arches having yellow brick voussoirs (six courses) and yellow brick construction to arch barrels. Snecked sand squared mildly rock-faced rubble stone piers, abutments and parapets with moulded brick stringcourse at track deck level. V-profile snecked and squared rubble stone cutwaters to base of piers to the south-east elevation. Ashlar stone canopy\lintel on moulded stone corbelled brackets to north-west side of bridge, below parapet level. Deck now overgrown with vegetation; water pipe attached to the south-east elevation. Located to south of Buncrana town centre, and to the north-east of the former Buncrana Railway Station (see 40815015). Detached three-bay single-storey building adjacent to bridge having pitched natural slate roof with red brick chimneystacks, red brick walls, square-headed window openings with two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows, and square-headed doorway with metal door.
Appraisal
This fine former railway bridge retains its early form and character despite the closure of the railway line in 1935 and its subsequent disuse. The elegant arches resting on tall slender piers creates a structure of some picturesque appeal to the south-west of the centre of Buncrana. The good-quality mildly rock-faced masonry used in the construction is a typical feature of late Victorian and Edwardian railway engineering and architecture in Ireland. It survives in relatively good condition, which is testament to the quality of its original construction. It was originally built by the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway Company as part of the Buncrana to Carndonagh section of the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway line, which opened on the 1st of July 1901 and closed in December 1935. This line was an extension of an earlier railway line from Derry to Buncrana that opened in 1864. This line had a narrow gauge of three foot. This railway bridge forms part of a group of structures associated with this former narrow gauge railway line on the Inishowen Peninsula, and it is an integral element of the built heritage and transport history of County Donegal.