GLENSHESK BRIDGE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A mid-19th C masonry skew-arch road bridge spanning a gorge on the Glenshesk River on the road between Armoy and Ballycastle.
This substantial bridge is executed in quarried rubble basalt with dressed sandstone embellishment to its abutment quoins and arch voussoirs. The arch is of semicircular profile with a keystone on each face depicting a figure in bas-relief. A row of projecting stones through the arch at spring level supported falsework during the arch's construction; its soffit is now gunited.

Adjacent to the abutments are similarly detailed rectangular buttresses which continue up as out-projecting terminal piers to the parapets. A dressed sandstone string course runs across each face above arch crown level and around the buttresses. It then continues as the coping to the bridge's curved wing walls.

The parapets are coped with oversailing, slightly sloping sandstone blocks. The terminal piers have shallow sandstone caps which are slightly higher than the parapets proper. Set into the road face of each parapet are three vertical sandstone blocks. The middle one on the upstream parapet bears an indecipherable legend whilst its counterpart on the opposite parapet is incised with a crow's foot bench mark. According to the 1972 First Survey card, the upstream stone reads 'Planted in 1846'.

Setting:
The bridge spans the two sides of the Glenshesk Valley which here forms a deep, wooded gorge with open fields to both sides.

Historical information

No road is shown over the river on the 1832 OS map, the existing road contouring along the east side of Knocklayd. Work on the construction of a new line of road over the Glenshesk River from the west to connect with an existing road down the east side of the valley appears to have been underway by 1844, although the bridge was apparently not finished until 1846 (according to the First Survey record card).
The bridge was built by William Bald (contractor on the Antrim Coast Road 1832-42) at the behest of the Co Antrim Grand Jury. At that time Charles Lanyon was County Surveyor and he was undoubtedly responsible for its design.
The bridge is explicitly captioned as 'Glenshesk Bridge' on the 1857 OS map and subsequent editions. Its arch soffit has been gunited in the relatively recent past.

References - Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/9/1. OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 9 (1832).
2. Report on road works in progress by Charles Lanyon, Northern Whig 27 July 1844.
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, 1972.
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
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
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A mid-19th C masonry skew-arch road bridge spanning a gorge on the Glenshesk River on the road between Armoy and Ballycastle.
Although the quality of construction of Glenshesk Bridge is typical of many mid-19th C bridges, its size and single soaring arch sets it apart. Its scale is also accentuated by its dramatic setting over a deep rocky gorge. The two figurine keystones are unusual embellishments and the fact that it is built to the skew, rather than orthogonally, adds to its structural interest.
Its fabric survives in a largely unaltered state, although it is unfortunate that its date stone is no longer legible and gunnite obscures the structure of the arch soffit. It is an excellent example of Charles Lanyon's architectural skills and of William Bald's contracting abilities. Since opening, the bridge has faciltated social and economic interactions between Armoy and Ballycastle and is of local interest.