Survey Data
Reg No
40830010
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
Date
1840 - 1850
Coordinates
234913, 409786
Date Recorded
28/09/2010
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Double-span bridge carrying the former Dundalk to Derry railway line over tributary of the River Foyle, built c. 1880, replacing and possible incorporating fabric from an earlier wooden bridge to site, built c. 1847. Now disused (since 1965). Coursed, rusticated and dressed mildly rock-faced squared granite central pier with concrete coping over supporting riveted iron or steel girder deck. Railway track girders still insitu. Stone and concrete supports to either end of deck. Cast-iron or steel riveted parapets with metal railings over. Located to east end of Saint Johnstown village adjacent to the River Foyle and the border with Northern Ireland to the east.
Appraisal
This fine and sophisticated former railway bridge retains its early form and character despite the closure of the railway line in 1965 and its subsequent disuse. This bridge appears to have replaced an earlier wooden bridge to site, which is indicated on the Valuation map of the area c. 1860. It is of technical interest on account of the steel girder deck construction with metal parapets and railings. It also retains its railway tracks and is, perhaps, one of the last places were the railway tracks are insitu along this section of this former railway line. The central pier is constructed using good-quality mildly rock-faced granite masonry; the use of rock-faced masonry is a characteristic feature of many late Victorian railway structures throughout Ireland. The quality of the stonework afforded this utilitarian structure is indicative of the grandiose ambitions of the original builders of this bridge, the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway Company. It survives in relatively good condition, which is testament to the quality of its robust original construction. This bridge was originally built as part of the Dundalk Barrack Street to Londonderry\Derry (Foyle Road) railway line, of which this bridge formed part of the earliest section between Derry (Cow Market) and Strabane completed and opened in April 1847. The entire railway line was completed by 1859 with the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway Company building the sections to the north of Enniskillen and the Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway Company building the southern sections. This line was built to the standard Irish gauge of 5ft 3-inches, and was later in the ownership of the Great Northern Railway Company. This railway bridge forms part of a group of structures associated with the formerly extensive railway network in Donegal, and it is an integral element of the extensive built heritage and transport history of the county. A former railway station (not investigated) survives a short distance to the south of the bridge.