Craigacat Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A skew-arched masonry road bridge of 1834 over a minor stream on the Cushendall - Ballycastle road.

The bridge is constructed in random rubble mica schist. The abutment quoins are of rusticated and margined sandstone blocks. There is also a shallow buttress on its downstream left-bank side, with similar quoins. The arch is of semicircular profile with vee-jointed voussoirs detailed as the quoins. Its soffit has been gunited. A moulded sandstone string course runs across each face above the arch crown.

The parapet copings are of roughly-hewn schist with larger latter blocks at each end. A sandstone plaque is set into the road face of the upstream (NE) parapet. It reads "Craigacat/ 1834".

There are slightly lower rubble masonry approach walls beyond the bridge proper, all now coped with concrete. The bridge has been repointed in sand/cement.

Setting:
The bridge lies on exposed open moorland. The shallow valley created by the stream has been embanked up to create a level road crossing.

Historical information

The 1832 OS map shows a dotted line of road on which this bridge lies, with the caption "new road in progress 1833". This was a continuation of the Antrim Coast Road from Larne to Cushendall northwards to Ballycastle which was constructed 1832-42 by the Scottish engineer William Bald for the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland. Although this bridge dates from 1834, the section of road on which it lies was not fully completed until the autumn of 1835.

'Craigacat Bridge' is explicitly captioned on all editions of the OS maps from 1857 onwards.

References - Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/15/1. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 15 (1832).
2. Datestone on bridge (1834).
3. 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir for Culfeightrin Parish. Reproduced by A. Day & P. McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Parishes of Co Antrim IX - North Antrim Coast and Rathlin, p.46 (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994).
4. PRONI OS/6/1/15/2. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 15 (1857).
5. PRONI OS/6/1/15/3. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 15 (1903-04).
6. PRONI OS/6/1/15/4. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 15 (1922).

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Although very modest in scale, the quality of the Craigacat bridge's construction is evident in the use of sandstone dressings which contrast with the darker mica schist. It also has group value with Glendun Viaduct (HB05/04/026) as well as the neighbouring bridges along this line of road: Corratavey Bridge (HB05/04/001), Altheela Bridge (HB05/04/002), Bush Burn Bridge (HB05/04/003), and Altadreen Bridge (HB05/04/004).

The bridge's original fabric survives largely intact. Its attested date and association with the Antrim Coast Road - which runs between Larne and Ballycastle and was the largest civil engineering project in Ireland in its day - also enhances its historical interest. This new line of road replaced two previous roads which had much steeper inclines to negotiate and undoubtedly improved social and economic connectivity throughout the area. The bridge is also of local interest.