BUSH BURN BRIDGE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A masonry road bridge of 1834 over the Bush Burn on the Cushendall - Ballycastle section of the A2 road.

The bridge is constructed in squared rubble mica schist brought to courses. It has recently been entirely repointed in lime mortar. Its abutments are embellished with rock-faced and margined sandstone quoins. The arch is of semicircular profile and accentuated with rock-faced and vee-jointed sandstone voussoirs. The faces on both sides of the arch are reinforced with shallow buttresses, which sweep down and away from the bridge. Their quoins are also picked out in margined sandstone blocks. A sandstone string course of half-circle profile also runs across the bridge just above the crown of the arch.

The low parapets are coped with sandstone blocks, also rock-faced and margined with slightly raised square blocks at each end.

Embedded in the road face of the downstream (E) parapet is an original sandstone plaque reading 'Bvsh Bvrn/ 1834' There is a crow's foot benchmark just left of the date. A short section of parapet coping immediately above this plaque has been replaced with cast concrete. The coping at the S end of the upstream parapet has been replaced in sandstone.

Short rubble masonry approach walls continue beyond the bridge parapets. Their original copings have been replaced with cast concrete.

Setting:
This bridge lies a short distance north of Altheela Bridge (HB05/04/002). Its surrounds were originally open moorland, now planted with conifers by Forestry Service.

Materials:
Walling Rubble mica schist
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 from Larne to Cushendall northwards to Ballycastle and 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, this section of road was not fully completed until the autumn of 1835.

The plaque on the bridge's parapet attests to its 1834 date of construction. 'Bushburn Bridge' 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. Datestone on bridge.
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/6/1/9/2. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 9 (1857).
5. PRONI OS/6/1/9/3. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 9 (1903-04).
6. PRONI OS/6/1/9/4. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 9 (1922).
7. DRD Road Service Report to Moyle District Council, p22 (Nov 2005).

References - Secondary Sources:
1. 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
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A masonry road bridge of 1834 over the Bush Burn on the Cushendall - Ballycastle section of the A2 road. Although a relatively small bridge, the quality of its construction is evident in the dressing of the schist and contrasting sandstone embellishments. The elegant curvatures on its abutments are also unusual features on such a small bridge. It has group value with neighbouring bridges along this line of road: Craigacat Bridge (HB05/03/029), Corratavey Bridge (HB05/04/001), Altheela Bridge (HB05/04/002), and Altadreen Bridge (HB05/04/004). Except for a small section of parapet coping, the bridge's original fabric survives in an unaltered state. The association with the Antrim Coast Road scheme, the largest civil engineering project in Ireland in its day, enhances its historical interest. The new road and its associated bridges improved social and economic networking throughout the region and underline the bridge's local importance.