Broadford Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double-span former railway bridge with central supporting pier, built c.1850, carrying railway over Strule River. Coursed squared rockfaced stone piers and abutments; V-shaped cutwater to central pier. Carriageway consists of pair of iron plate girders connected by series of beams supporting timber sleepers (previously railway line itself); wrought-iron handrail with tubular horizontal members to each side supported on wrought-iron brackets.

Bridge located at wide section of the river in rural
setting, accessed through private ground from former embankment to north and south; riverbank to either side largely overgrown.

Roof N/A
Walling Squared rockfaced stone
Windows N/A
RWG N/A

Historical information

‘Broadford Bridge’ first appears on the second edition of the OS Map (1854) as part of the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway. By the third edition of 1905, this has become the Great Northern Railway.

McCutcheon comments on the formation of the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway Company in 1845, which was “authorised to construct a single-track line of railway extending southwards from a Londonderry terminus…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 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 and livestock could be conveyed northwards to the port of Londonderry. As we have seen, in 1861 Omagh was reached from the south east, across the watershed separating the Foyle and Bann catchment areas, and direct rail communication between Dublin, Belfast and Londonderry was now possible. In 1860 the Londonderry-Enniskillen line was leased to the Dundalk & Enniskillen Railway Company, subsequently the Irish North Western Railway Company.” In 1876 this merged with two other companies to form the Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland). (p.109/10)

References:
Primary Sources
1.PRONI OS/6/6/25/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1854)
2.PRONI OS/6/6/25/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1905)
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
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A double-span former railway bridge with central supporting pier, built c.1850, carrying the former Great Northern Railway over the Strule River. This substantial large-span bridge remains intact and displays significant engineering merit; the structure is minimal despite the substantial loading for which it was designed. Broadford Bridge represents a change of approach and the progression of technology in structural engineering terms, (necessitated by the introduction of improved rolling stock), and the railway is an important part of the industrial development of the district, facilitating trade in the area and improving communication links. Breen Bridge (HB10/06/022) over Mourne River on the former Londonderry & Enniskillen railway line (later the Great Northern Railway) in Strabane District is similar; Blackrock Bridge (HB11/08/004) is another variation on the type. Although Broadford Bridge Bridge is no longer in use, it represents an imprtant element of the development of the railway during the latter part of the nineteenth-century.