Mulvin Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mulvin Bridge spans the River Mourne in an unspoiled rural
setting approximately 1.4km SE of Victoria Bridge, with open pasture to either side, the bridge and approaches are in dense woodland up to the river banks. The bridge is approximately half way between Strabane & Omagh on the 120km Great Northern Railway (Ireland) line from Portadown to Londonderry and has been abandoned since the closure of this section in 1965.

A three-span steel plate girder bridge, erected c.1910, which carried the GNR(Ireland) 'Derry Road', formally the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway, over the Mourne River, the present bridge replaced timber and cast iron structures erected by former operators.
The bridge is aligned north-south, and consists of two main-span riveted plate girders on two intermediate stone piers, with a secondary internal plate girder structure to carry the road bed, on abutting, contiguous, sleepers. The running rails and raised horizontal check rails have been removed, the support structure for the latter is extant.

The bridge is supported on two stone piers, each with coping and intermediate string course. The coping is continuous but is deeper to E side: the string course on both piers is extant to W 2/3rds of pier but does not continue beyond to E and stone changes from coursed rock-faced masonry to uncoursed hammer dressed ashlar from this point, indicating that both piers have been extended to E. Both abutments are similarly asymmetrical in that, while constructed in rock faced stone throughout, the western portion is flat with a slight batter while eastern side has semi-circular projection. While the bridge span is single track, the above observations suggest the supporting structure was altered/ extended to receive a second main span for double track.
There are tooled ashlar piers to the east abutment only, at both ends of the bridge. At the south end the flat capstone is inscribed 'MULVIN BRIDGE'.
The northern approach is level adjacent to the bridge with cutting beyond, the southern approach embankment is extant in dense undergrowth.

Setting:
Mulvin Bridge is located approximately half way between Strabane & Omagh on the 120km Great Northern Railway (Ireland) line from Portadown to Londonderry. It spans the River Mourne in an unspoiled rural setting approximately 1.4km SE of Victoria Bridge, with dense vegetation to roadbed and open pasture to either side.

Materials:
Span: Riveted steel plate girders and latticework
Piers: Coursed rock-faced/ uncoursed hammer faced ashlar basalt
Abutments: Coursed rock-faced basalt

Historical information

This bridge was constructed in 1910-11 as part of the Great Northern Railway (Ireland)’s network. Along with nearby Camus Bridge and Breen Bridge, it replaced an earlier cast-iron structure, which in turn had superseded a wooden crossing (also known as ‘Mulvin Bridge’), built as part of the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway in c.1850.

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) The bridge itself was probably constructed by Alexander Findlay & Co. of Motherwell, an engineering firm founded in 1888 who came to specialise in 'steel bridgework’ and who are recorded as having built nearby Camus Bridge for the GNR at this time.

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)

TOWNLANDS Mulvin, perhaps Ir. Mullach Fionn or Mail Fionn - ‘white summit'; Knockroe, Ir. Cnoc Rua - ‘red hill'

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. 'Londonderry Sentinel', p.7 - 25 November 1911
4. 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
F. Structural System
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Mulvin Bridge is an early-twentieth century steel plate girder railway bridge located approximately half way between Strabane & Omagh, on the 120km Great Northern Railway (Ireland) line from Portadown to Londonderry. It is situated 1.4km south east of Victoria Bridge in a rural setting in open pasture, carrying the former Great Northern Railway (Ireland) line (previously the Londonderry & Enniskillen railway) over the Mourne River.
Although the line dates from the mid-nineteenth century, the current bridge dates from a period of improvement along this line, c.1910. The third structure on the site, Mulvin Bridge marks the progression of technological advancement in structural engineering terms, the structure being a significant determinant of the architectural form. It has group value with the nearby Camus Bridge (HB10/06/021) and Breen Bridge (HB10/06/022), which have similar constructional elements. Mulvin railway bridge is an important historical feature within the locality, with social importance in the form of improved transport links in a rural region and it is a rare example of steel railway bridge, with only five others listed in Northern Ireland. As much physical evidence of the railway line is now gone, this is a good example of a largely intact steel railway bridge which retains historic authenticity.