Kilclean Bridge,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-span road over stream mid-nineteenth-century bridge, aligned north-south and carrying the Barleyhill Road over the Back Burn.

There is a ford adjacent to the bridge.

Squared sandstone, roughly coursed, to abutments, spandrels and parapets, with tooled sandstone coping shaped over curved parapet ends. Two shallow segmental arches with dressed sandstone voussoirs flank dressed stone bullnosed cutwaters at both sides. Soffits are squared stone. Carrying a single lane tarmac carriageway. The bridge is set in open countryside with hedgerows and grassed verges.

Walling: sandstone.

Historical information

A bridge is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 carrying a road over a small uncaptioned river. On the second edition (1855) the bridge is captioned ‘Kilclean Bridge’. The bridge does not appear to be of early nineteenth-century construction, and it seems likely that the current structure is a mid-nineteenth-century replacement.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/16/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/16/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1855)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/16/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1905)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/16/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1939)

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

Two span mid-nineteenth century road-over-stream bridge aligned west-east on the Barleyhill Road and carrying a single track road over the Black Burn. The bridge is notable for its good proportions and fine stone detailing, including elegant curved parapet ends and shallow segmental arches and bulbous cutwaters. It represents improvements in the local infrastructure during the mid-nineteenth century, and that it remains in use in relatively unaltered form is testament to the skill of ninetenth century engineers. The structure is further enhanced by an unspoiled rural setting.