RED ARCH

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A short road tunnel of 1817 through a sandstone headland on the Coast Road above the pier at Red Bay. The tunnel has been cut through the Old Red Sandstone headland. Of parabolic profile, the bare rock is exposed on its abutments, but its soffit and arch ring have been consolidated with cement render to prevent rock falls. A much more recent pedestrian footpath has been constructed around the seaward end of the headland.

Setting:
The headland through which the tunnel has been cut is directly above the pier on the N side of Red Bay. On the exposed headland above it are the ruinous remains of Red Bay Castle (a Scheduled Monument, ANT20:10).

Historical information

This tunnel was cut through the headland at Red Bay by Francis Turnly in 1817 to improve the old Coast Road between Waterfoot and Cushendall. Before its construction, the only route between the two villages was to the west via what is now Middlepark Road, a steep narrow road over the top of the headland. Turnly was a prominent local landowner based at Drumnasole, near Carnlough, and he was also responsible for Turnly's Cut, another road improvement scheme just north of Garron Point.
It is noted in the 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir as follows: "The road from Cushendall to Glenarm runs along the coast of this parish for 1½ miles. It is tolerably level and in good order; its average breadth is 24ft. About a mile from Cushendall, this road passes through a sort of tunnel or excavated archway in the sandstone headland, forming a very pleasing and picturesque feature. This tunnel (which was made at the expense of Mr Turnly, the proprietor of the soil) is 36ft long, 22ft wide and 30ft high. The greater part of this road was made at Mr Turnly's expense".
The structure is cited as 'tunnel' on all OS maps from 1832 onwards, and as 'Red Arch' on the 1973 edition.

References - Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/1. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 20 (1832).
2. 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir for Layd Parish. reproduced by A. Day & P. McWilliams, Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Parishes of Co Antrim IV 1830-38: Glens of Antrim, p.48 (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1992).
3. PRONI OS/6/1/20/2. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 20 (1857).
4. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 20 (1903).
5. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 20 (1920).
6. PRONI OS/11/25/13/1. OS 1:2500 map, Irish Grid sheet 25-13 (1973).

References - Secondary Sources:
1. F.W. Hamond, Antrim Coast & Glens Industrial Heritage, pp 59-61, 79 (Belfast: HMSO, 1991).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
F. Structural System
G. Innovatory Qualities
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Compared with railway tunnels, those carrying roads are rare in the Province, however short their length. Red Arch is a well preserved early example of such a tunnel, the reason for its construction being clearly evident in its setting, at the tip of the exposed headland on the northern shore of Red Bay. It was built by Francis Turnly as part of a road improvement scheme and doubtless benefitted not only him but also the local community in terms of easier social and economic interactions. It is testimony to Turnly's foresight that his stretch of road between Waterfoot and Cushendall was incorporated into the new Antrim Coast Road some 20 years later. The tunnel is of structural and local interest..