Bridge

The National Monuments Service's description

A seventeenth-century bridge at the southern end of the town of Carrick on Shannon traversed the River Shannon, which connected the county of Leitrim to Roscommon.  Although a bridge at Carrickdrumrush is depicted on the Down Survey (1656-8) map of County Leitrim, the first reference to a bridge at Carrick-on-Shannon occurs in 1684 when Maurice Griffith requested money from the Crown to build a wooden one (Russell and Prendergast 1880, 406, 430).  This is described in an account of c. 1683 as a large timber bridge (Logan 1971, 332). Tolls were granted to Sir George St. George in 1684 in order to keep it in repair (Lewis 1837, I, 275). It was replaced in 1717 by a stone bridge of eleven arches (Bradley and Dunne 1988, 15). Present bridge described by the NIAH as a; ‘Five-arch limestone road bridge, built in 1846 by contractor R.A. Gray on behalf of the Commissioners for the Improvement of the Navigation of the River Shannon. Pedestrian underpass to northern quayside. Upstream and downstream U-cutwaters. Coursed cut limestone walls with ashlar parapet, ashlar voussoirs to segmental arch-rings. Carved plaque to parapet detailing history of bridge with bench mark below. Cast-iron lamp standards added to parapet wall c.1990. Bridge links Counties Leitrim and Roscommon’ (NIAH Reg. No. 31807001) Cross-Reference with RO011-150002-.

See the attached view from the Down Survey parish map (N at bottom) reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (NLI, MS 717).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 4 December 2008

Amended: 14 October, 2019

References

NLI, MS 717 - National Library of Ireland,  The parish maps of the Down Survey for the County of Leitrim, with attestation by W. Petty and W. Gorkin, dated 1659. Copied by Daniel O'Brien. A set of 25 maps with accompanying terriers, 1786-7.

Russell, C. W. and Prendergast, J. P. (eds) 1880 Calendar of the State Papers relating to Ireland of the reign of James I 1615-25. HMSO, London Bradley, J. and Dunne, N. 1988 Urban archaeological survey - county Leitrim. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin. Logan, J. 1971 Tadg O'Roddy and two surveys of Co. Leitrim. Journal of Cumann Seanchas Breifne (Breifne Historical Society) 4 (14), 318-34. Lewis, S. 1837 A topographical dictionary of Ireland, 2 vols. London. Lewis and Co.