Bridge

The National Monuments Service's description

‘Bellarush Bridge’ is not included in the SMR (1989) or the RMP (1995). It is located at the intersection of three townlands: Bellarush; Cartronroe and Annagh. Wood-Martin (1892, 200) recorded that ‘The oldest bridges now standing in the County are those at Bellarush, near the north end of Lough Arrow, and Drumcliff. No date can be assigned for the building of either, but from their narrow arches and style of masonry, they must have been long in existence.' It is a road bridge (Wth 7.9m; long axis NE-SW) over the Arrow or Unshin River immediately N of Lough Arrow. The bridge comprises three segmental arches with rough voussoirs. The corbels to support the centering of the arch are visible. The piers are very thick and have cutwaters. There are two narrow lintelled opes on the NE side. There is an arched ope on river bank on SW side with rough voussoirs. The main arches on the upstream side and the voussoirs are better dressed with some concrete repair. The parapet wall has flat-bedded coping. It is not marked on the Down Survey (1655-6) barony map but is shown quite clearly on a map surveyed in 1777 (Taylor and Skinner 1778, 64). However, Mr. Gary Salter, an accredited conservation engineer has recently been tasked with undertaking minor repairs and maintenance of the bridge on behalf of Sligo County Council and has undertaken a detailed survey of the monument which he has kindly forwarded on to our Department. He believes ‘that the original bridge (circa 15’ wide) has the shape, characteristics, proportions, material shape and workmanship of a structure most likely to have been built in the period between 1200 and 1600AD. The bridge was widened subsequently to approximately twice its original width, but even this work has the character of pre-1840 construction. The ‘New Bridge’ (Markievicz Br.) in Sligo town, dating to 1680 was extant at this time, indicating that Wood-Martin considered the bridge at Bellarush to pre-date it. Mr. Salter’s survey, together with the Wood-Martin reference, strongly suggest that Bellarush bridge is a pre-1700 structure.

References

Taylor and Skinner 1778 (Reprint 1969) Maps of the Roads of Ireland. Shannon. Irish University Press.

Wood-Martin, W.G. 1892 History of Sligo, county and town, from the close of the revolution of 1688 to the present time. Dublin. Hodges Figgis.