Buttermilk Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A 2 arch stone bridge over the Owenbeg River.

Two arches, almost semi-circular, spring from low supporting walls with a slight shelf type springing line. Triangular breakwater with triangular caps curved on the leading edge. Built of random rubble sandstone from the nearby quarries the voissoirs are squared but are much eroded on the arch arris. The soffits of the arch are also of random rubble. The arches span approx. 7 metres and the parapet is 29 metres long with 7 metres between. Parapets curve at the ends where the road bends, to cross the river at right angles. On the S side there is a good flight of steps with metal gate allowing easy access to the riverbank. The parapet coping is of large blocks of stone slightly overhanging the skirting wall.

The bridge carried the Drumrane Road over the Owenbeg river at a most picturesque spot on that river where the bank is lined with trees. There is a sweeping meadow on the S side with a broad riverbank. A short distance downstream the Owenbeg River river joins the River Roe.

Historical information

This bridge dates from 1795 and was contemporary with the 7 arch bridge over the River Roe at the west end of Dungiven. Both were swept away in floods that year and were rebuilt. Buttermilk bridge is unaltered from that date except for the access steps to the riverbank. The O.S. Memoir describes it “is a handsome object, consisting of 2 arches 18 feet in span, built of freestone and has been lately repaired”. I H R No. 1841 .

References

Primary Sources
O.S. Map 1832 Londonderry sh. 24.
O.S. Memoirs of Ireland – Co Londonderry IV 1824, 1833-5 p. 11
Ed Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams Q U B.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A picturesque late 18th century bridge built under the Grand Jury administration which retains its early character unchanged except for the addition of access steps. It has the semi-circular arches of the period and the characteristic of so many of the older bridges of causing a kink or bend in the road to make the crossing at right angles. The setting is superb.