ALTADREEN BRIDGE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A slightly skew 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. The arch, which is set slightly skew to the face of the bridge, is of semicircular profile and embellished with rock-faced, vee-jointed sandstone voussoirs. Both faces of the bridge have shallow tapered buttresses detailed as the abutments; those on the upstream face have a curved taper. A sandstone string course of D profile runs across the bridge at the base of the parapet, just above the crown of the arch.

The bed of the stream is pitched with stones where it runs under the arch and the downstream right bank is retained with rubble stonework.

The upstream parapet is coped with rock-faced, margined sandstone blocks. The copings on the downstream (NE) parapet have been replaced with concrete. The SE end of this parapet has also been rebuilt.

Embedded in the road face of the downstream parapet is an original sandstone plaque reading 'Avltadreen/ 1834'. There is also a crow's foot benchmark just left of the date.

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

Setting:
This bridge lies on the main road to the NW of Bush Burn Bridge (HB05/04/003) in the middle of an area of open moorland in the midst of Ballypatrick Forest.

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 1834 date of construction. 'Altadreen 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. 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 slightly skew masonry road bridge of 1834 over a stream on the Cushendall - Ballycastle section of the A2 road. Although a relatively small bridge, the quality of its construction is evident in its tapered abutments and dressed sandstone embellishments to the quoins and arch voussoirs. It has group value with neighbouring bridges along this line of road: Corratavey Bridge (HB05/04/001), Altheela Bridge (HB05/04/002), and Bushburn Bridge (HB05/04/003). Except for a the downstream parapet coping, the bridge's original fabric is largely unaltered. 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.