CORRATAVEY BRIDGE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A masonry road bridge of 1834 over a stream on the Cushendall - Ballycastle section of the A2 road.
The bridge is of random rubble blackstone, brought to courses. Its abutments are embellished with margined rock-faced sandstone quoins. Both faces have out-curving tapered random rubble blackstone buttresses, with margined rock-faced quoins. The arch is of semicircular profile and embellished with rock-faced, vee-jointed sandstone voussoirs. Its soffit is of squared random rubble. A small modern information plaque is affixed to the downstream left-bank quoin. A D-profile sandstone string course runs across the face of bridge at the base of the parapet on both sides, just above arch crown level.

The stream has been modified where it flows under the arch. Its bed is now pitched with hexagonal basalt slabs to form a ford for vehicles and the left bank has been built up to form a narrow footpath. Most of the flow is now culverted underground and emerges from a circular concrete pipe in a waterfall a short distance downstream.

The parapets are of roughly-dressed random sandstone blocks (with identical copings). Set into the middle of the downstream (NE) parapet is an inscribed stone reading: "Coretavy''. The stone below it reads ''Villiam Bald Engineer''. The stonework above the first inscription and below the second one is slight advanced to emphasise the legend. However, the crispness of the letters suggests that the stones may have been recut or even replaced.

Short rubble masonry approach walls continue beyond the parapets at both ends. The original rubble masonry copings survive at NW but those at the SE end have been replaced with concrete.

Setting:
This bridge lies on the main road to the SE of Altheela Bridge (HB05/04/002) in Ballypatrick Forest. The ford and footpath under the arch form part of the road network within the public forest park. Immediately upstream from the bridge, on the left (N) bank is a grass/tarmaced area with picnic tables.

Materials:
Walling Random rubble blackstone
Dressings Sandstone

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 between Larne and Ballycastle which was constructed 1832-42 by the Scottish engineer William Bald for the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland. The section of road on which this bridge lies was completed in the autumn of 1835.

The plaque on the bridge's parapet attests to its construction by William Bald (indeed this is the only bridge along the entire road which bears his name). According to the First Survey record card, the date '1834' also appears. However, the projecting stonework at the top and bottom of the existing legend suggest no such addition; moreover, the date was not present in 1991. If it does exist, it must either be on a stone which has since been replaced, or inscribed on the stone below which is now obscured as a result of the deck's periodic resurfacing.
'Corratavey Br' is explicitly captioned on all editions of the OS maps from 1857 onwards.

References - Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/9/1. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 9 (1832).
2. 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).
3. PRONI OS/6/1/9/2. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 9 (1857).
4. PRONI OS/6/1/9/3. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 9 (1903-04).
5. PRONI OS/6/1/9/4. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 9 (1922).

References - Secondary Sources:
1. First Survey record card, 18 Nov 1971.
2. F.W. Hamond, Antrim Coast & Glens Industrial Heritage, p.77 (Belfast: HMSO, 1991).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A masonry road bridge of 1834 over a stream on the Cushendall - Ballycastle section of the A2 road. The bridge is constructed of random rubble blackstone, brought to courses with sandstone dressings. An inscription on the downstream parapet reads, "Coretavy'' and the stone below reads ''Villiam Bald Engineer'', attesting to the Scottish engineer William Bald. The quality of construction of this substantial bridge is particularly evident in its curving abutments and dressed sandstone embellishments to its quoins and arch. Much of its original fabric is unaltered and authentic. The association with the Antrim Coast Road scheme, the largest civil engineering project in Ireland in its day, enhances its historical interest. It has group value with neighbouring bridges along this line of road: Craigacat Bridge (HB05/03/029), Altheela Bridge (HB05/04/002), Bush Burn Bridge (HB05/04/003), and Altadreen Bridge (HB05/04/004). The new road and its associated bridges improved social and economic networking throughout the region and underline the bridge's local importance.

General comments

Note that the First Survey card is dated 1971, but the First Survey slide is 1993.