Breen bridge over Mourne River,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A four-span stone and steel deck bridge, aligned N-S and carrying the former Londonderry & Enniskillen railway (later the Great Northern) over the Mourne River. The bridge consists of a 'trough' of riveted iron troughs supported on steel girders spanning between bull-nosed piers, projecting to either side as cutwaters and faced in uncoursed squared stone. The abutments are similarly constructed and built into steep banks at either side. The deck is cantilevered over the girder frame and is bounded by steel rail parapets punctuated by a series of pedestrian refuges. The 'trough' is infilled with earth and is now grassed, the track having been removed. A rock-faced stone pier with ashlar coping remains to the south (partially covered with vegetation).

The bridge spans the Mourne-Beg River in an unspoiled rural
setting with grassed banks and open pasture to either side. The associated track has been removed.

Span: Steel plate girder deck.
Piers/ abutments: Rock-faced stone

Historical information

The bridge first appears, captioned, on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1855, as part of the ‘Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway’. However, it was replaced c.1910. By the third edition (1905) the name of the line has changed to ‘Great Northern Railway (Ireland)’.

McCutcheon comments on the development of the railway,“The Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway Company was incorporated in 1845, authorised to construct a single-track line of railway extending southwards from a Londonderry terminus…Work began soon afterwards and by April 1847 the single-track line had reached Strabane…The cost of construction was relatively low, about £10,000 per mile…However, due to the shortness of the line, storm damage…and competition from the Strabane Canal and Foyle Navigation, this first section of the company’s line was not a great commercial success. It was not until the construction of the line to Omagh, reached in 1852, Fintona (1853) and Enniskillen (1854) that the full benefits of the railway became apparent. Undoubtedly the new line of rail communication brought important commercial advantages to the towns which it served, and indirectly, to the agricultural lands, both arable and pastoral in character, lying along the valleys of the Foyle, its headstreams and tributaries, and to the flanking upland areas to both east and west. Omagh and Strabane, in particular, emerged as major market centres from which goods could be conveyed northwards to the port of Londonderry. ” (p.109-110)

The Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway eventually amalgamated with other lines, starting in 1860 when it was “leased to the Dundalk & Enniskillen Railway Company, subsequently the Irish North Western Railway Company, for 99 years …The INWR was absorbed by the Northern Railway Company on 1 January 1876 and this in turn merged with the Ulster Railway Company on 1 April 1876 to form the Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland).” (p.110-1)

The original bridges on the line were replaced in 1910-11, “Between Newtownstewart and Strabane, several of the earlier cast-iron girder trellis bridges, which in turn had replaced the original timber bridges put up by the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway Company around 1850, were themselves replaced in 1910-11 by enclosed troughs of riveted iron sheets supported on massive steel girders e.g…Breen Bridge…and Camus Bridge”. (p.162)

During the post-war period the railways faced increasing competition from road transport and in 1953 the GNR ceased to exist as a separate and independent company. “In that year the entire system was acquired jointly by the Governments of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and was subsequently operated by a Board consisting of representatives of the two governments. In 1958 the greatly diminished portion of the former Great Northern system which lay within Northern Ireland passed under the absolute control of the Ulster Transport Authority” A period of contraction followed in which many lines deemed to be unremunerative were closed down. (p.119)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/10/2 – Second Edition OS Map (1855)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/10/3 – Third Edition OS Map (1905)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/10/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map (1951)

Secondary Sources

1. McCutcheon, W.A. “The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland,” London: HMSO, 1980

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Breen Bridge is an early-twentieth century riveted iron and steel girder railway bridge, carrying the former Londonderry & Enniskillen railway line (later the Great Northern Railway) over the Mourne River. Although the line dates from the mid-nineteenth century, the current bridge was erected as part of a series of improvements in the early twentieth-century; it is likely that the piers and abutments date from the earlier mid-nineteenth century bridge. It marks the progression of technological advancement in structural engineering terms, necessitated by the introduction of improved rolling stock. The bridge enjoys an unspoiled rural setting in open pasture, and has group value with other vestigial remains of the railway, notably with the Camus Bridge HB10/06/021, with whom it shares constructional detailing.