Bridge, Leckpatrick Road, Sentry Hill, Ballymagorry, Strabane, Co Tyrone

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Triple-span stone road over former rail bridge, erected c.1890, carrying the Leckpatrick Road on an east/west axis over the now dismantled Strabane to Londonderry line.

Three segmental-headed arches with cement voussoirs and tooled stone springer stones on rock-faced tooled stone piers. Cement soffits to arches with rubble stone walling above the arches to parapet level with rough-hewn stone parapet, all having cement pointing. Hump-backed twin carriageway has bitmac finish with terminating piers to either end.

Walling Rubblestone with cement rendered voussoirs

Historical information

The bridge is first shown carrying a road over the Donegal Railway on the third edition OS map of 1905. On the fourth edition (1951) the railway is captioned ‘U.T.A. Railway’. This section of the line runs from Strabane to Londonderry.

McCutcheon traces some of the history of the the Donegal Railway Company and its successors. A railway was built from Stranorlar to Strabane in 1863. In 1882 this was extended to Lough Eske and in 1889 to Donegal Town. In 1894 the company converted the Stranorlar to Strabane section to narrow gauge and extensions were built to Killybegs and Glenties in 1893 and 1895 respectively. “In 1896 a…bill was lodged by the Donegal Railway Company seeking powers to construct a narrow gauge line from Strabane northwards to Londonderry and also…from Donegal to Ballyshannon…both these lines were built, the former completed in August 1900, the latter in September 1905” (p.197-8)

However, the railway began to experience financial difficulties, “In [1906]…the extensive system of light railways operated by the Donegal Railway Company passed under the joint control of the Great Northern Railway and the Midland Railway Company of England. The system was run by a body styled, ‘The County Donegal Railways Joint Committee’ consisting of an equal number of representatives of the two major standard gauge companies. To complicate matters, the Strabane to Londonderry section became the exclusive property of the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee) although it was in fact worked by the CDRJC.” (p.198)

A further connection was built from Strabane to Letterkenny which was the last extension to be built. The Ulster Transport Authority was established in 1948 and by 1958 had become responsible for all public rail transport in the province. During the period of U.T.A. control of the railways there was much contraction and it appears that the Strabane to Derry section of the line closed c.1955. (p.119, 138, 198)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/5/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/5/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/5/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1905)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/5/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1951)

Secondary Sources

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A former road over rail bridge dating from c.1890 and exhibiting some good stone masonry despite recent repairs. While the railway has been dismantled the bridge carrys the current Leckpatrick Road traffic over a hollow in the road. The overall impression of this late nineteenth century bridge remains intact and forms a pleasant feature in the local rural landscape, however, the use of cementitious materials in the recent repairs to the voussoirs in particular has degraded the bridge's architectural interest.