Dartress Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A skew-arched masonry bridge carrying a minor road over the Articlave River just south of the village of the same name. Low abutments of squared random rubble, brought to courses and embellished with rusticated and margined sandstone quoins. Shallow tapered buttresses to each side of the arch, with similarly detailed quoins. The arch is of segmental profile, also with rusticated and margined sandstone quoins. The soffit of the arch has been gunited so its material cannot be visually determined. The spandrels and parapets are of roughly squared basalt blocks laid to courses and coped with dressed sandstone blocks. The bank at the NE end of the bridge has been built up with rubble masonry.

Both faces of the bridge have been heavily repointed in the relatively recent past and the bed of the river has been concreted to minimise scouring.

Setting: Set at the southern approach to Articlave, in a rural
setting with pasture to south.

Schedule of material:
Rubble stone abutments
Gunite soffits

Historical information

An uncaptioned bridge is shown at this location on the 1830 OS six-inch map. Although not recorded in the 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir for Dunboe Parish, the next bridge along on the townland boundary between Dartress and Ballywildrick Lower is noted as having been “lately built at the expense of the county”. This bridge may well have been built around the same time.
It is explicitly captioned as Dartress Bridge on the 1850 OS map and subsequent editions.

References - Primary sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/1, First edition OS six-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 7 (1830).
2. OS Memoir for Dunboe Parish (1835). Reprinted as A. Day & P. McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Parishes of County Londonderry III, 1831-5, Roe Valley Lower, p.63 (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1991).
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2, Second edition OS six-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 7 (1850).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An elegant segmental skew-arched masonry road bridge, probably of earlier 19th century date. The skew-arch construction of this bridge's soffit has unfortunately been obscured by the addition of sprayed concrete. However the bridge remains of substantial interest due to the unusual vertical detailing either side of the springing points and the use of contrasting sandstone in the embellishments.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.