McClays Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Remains of a single-span roughly coursed rubble stone former railway bridge built c.1850, part of the Great Northern Railway which carried the Portadown/Londonderry line over a field track aligned east-west. The bridge incorporates a diminutive secondary arch over stream at north.

Embankments and line have been completely removed and remains consist of freestanding segmental abutments to each side.

The carriageway appears to have been approximately 4m wide, and shows no evidence of a single-span masonry arch, suggesting the former railway line may have been supported on iron girders. Abutment walls have dressed rubble coping.

The bridge is located in a rural landscape with Clark’s Bridge (HB11/08/009) at north and Todd’s Bridge (HB11/08/011) at south.

Roof N/A
Walling Random rubble
Windows N/A
RWG N/A

Historical information

‘McClay’s 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 (1854)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/25/3 (1905)

Secondary Sources

1. 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

Remains of a single-span roughly coursed rubble stone former railway bridge built c.1850. The ruinous condition of the bridge reveals the construction methods and structure and have some structural and technical interest. The quadrant abutments are an unusual feature, and are well detailed, the absence of an arch also suggesting a former girder span. However, insufficient fabric survives to merit listing and there are other, better examples listed.