Bridge

The National Monuments Service's description

Cromwell's Bridge: This bridge, titled 'Finnihy Bridge' on the first edition of the OS map, crosses the Finnihy river on the W side of Kenmare town. The river serves as the boundary between the baronies of Dunkerron South and Glanarought. It has been suggested that the bridge's present name, rather than reflecting an association with Cromwell, is an anglicised version of the Irish word Croiméal (moustache) or may derive from an amalgam of the words Croim (stooped) and Maol (bald) - the latter term sometimes being used to describe bridges without a parapet (Sheehan and Cronin, forthcoming). Pococke's description of 'a high bridge and one arch', which he crossed during his travels in 1758 (Ó Maidín 1958, 93) most likely refers to this site.
Cromwell's Bridge appears to be the type usually referred to as a pack-horse bridge (Metcalfe 1970, 25). It is formed of a high semicircular arch of pitched limestone, bonded in a heavy gravel mortar. The arch was raised on wooden centring, as is evidenced by two large beam-holes at the NW base of its intrados; dense ivy growth obscures the opposite base. The span of the arch is 4.9m and it measures 3.05m wide. Ramps may have originally led to the level of its haunches, which are now difficult to ascend. The bridge may have been built by William Petty's settlers at 'Nedeen' (Kenmare) in the late seventeenth century.

The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1456. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 1 August 2013

References

Ó Maidín, P. 1958a Pococke's tour of south and south-west Ireland in 1758. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 63, 73-94.

O'Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. 1996 The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry. Cork University press.