Survey Data
Reg No
41401707
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Bridge
Date
1855 - 1860
Coordinates
255095, 324561
Date Recorded
24/05/2012
Date Updated
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Description
Single-arch sandstone railway bridge, built c.1858, carrying Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway over road. Segmental arch, with rock-faced rusticated stone voussoirs and squared random rubble stone to soffit. Margined edge to voussoirs and quoins to arch. Rusticated plat-band at impost level. Extended abutments to each side to north elevation, splayed wing walls to abutments to each elevation. Roughly-coursed squared rubble stone to abutments and wing walls, latter having rusticated stone copings. Spandrel and parapet walls overgrown, embankment to west removed, piers to west elevation of abutment exposed.
Appraisal
Although somewhat overgrown, this bridge remains a focal point in the landscape and is reminder of the railway history of the district. Extended abutment walls to the north are unusual and distinguish this structure as a component within the larger group of railway bridges along this route. The Dundalk and Enniskillen Branch of the Great Northern Railway opened to Clones in 1858 and closed in 1959. The bridge is of historical and social significance as a reminder of the development the railway network in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century, bringing about technological advances and social change in the country.