Bridge near Millvale

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single arched masonry bridge carrying a road over a stream, built of snecked blackstone rubble with rock-faced cut voussoirs to the segmental arch, and a rock-faced platband at carriageway level. Parapets and abutments are returned square at the extremities, and the sandstone copings to the parapets have been let into the stone below in three places on either side. The copings are feather-edged and are raised at the ends to accommodate the extra width of masonry at the returns.

SETTING: The bridge is located in a rural area, on the edge of a hamlet, in a leafy
setting surrounded by trees.

Historical information

The year of construction is not known but it dates from after the second Ordnance Survey in 1857, as it does not appear until the third OS map, in 1903. It may be tentatively dated to the 1860s.

References - Primary

1. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 35.
2. OS Map 1903, Co Antrim 35.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An unspoilt example of mid-to late Victorian engineering of handsome design and robust construction.