Roe Road Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Former bridge demolished. Approach road and side walls on either side of River Roe still existent. To Bellarena bank (north east) the road is stopped at a new concrete block wall 4 metres approximately from the rivers edge. To Ballyhenry East bank opposite, the original stone work of the bridge at the rivers edge has been retained and is surmounted with a new concrete block wall.

Historical information

At Bellarena a bridge of wood was ‘stretched across stone piers forming 6 openings or arches’ in 1799 replacing an earlier timber bridge swept away by storms which had been erected a few years earlier. (Source Ordnance Survey Memoirs) This bridge or a repaired version seems to have survived until the 1930s. A post card from the turn of the century is held in the Historic Buildings Record showing timber spanning between coursed stone piers with pointed cut waters and square 600 x 600mm (approx) upstands above the carriageway. The balustrading was a pretty pattern of Xs between verticals. Damage caused by a further storm in 1920 caused the wood to be replaced by a reinforced concrete structure spanning on the stone piers. Concrete work was designed by C L Boddie used the Hennebique system. The bridge was considered for listing in 1992 but deemed ‘of little aesthetic or historic interest’ by the Historic Buildings Council in 1993. The bridge was demolished in 1995 and replaced by a new concrete bridge a little to the north west.

References:
Ordnance Survey Memoirs Vol. 11 p.80.
Historic Buildings Records

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Former bridge now demolished.