Canal Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single semicircular arch carries a one-and-a-half lane hump-backed road over the Ulster Canal, here watered to both sides. The abutments are of regularly-laid dressed limestone blocks, whereas the spandrels are of roughly-dressed random limestone rubble. It is embellished with finely dressed voussoirs and a similarly detailed string course over the arch crown. The parapets have been rebuilt in the recent past in random rubble, as has the spandrel on the north-east face. They end (on the west side only) in square out-projecting piers; the original dressed coping blocks have been reused on both walls.

The towpath runs through the arch on the south side. Its edge is marked with large dressed stones. The canal bank is also faced with masonry for a short distance on either side of the bridge. The span of the arch is approximately 6.12m (20ft 1in), of which the actual canal occupies 4.09m (13ft 5in).

Historical information

The Ulster Canal was constructed between Charlemont (Co Armagh) and Wattle Bridge (Co Fermanagh) between 1825 and 1842. The consulting engineer was William Cubitt and the principal contractor William Dargan (better known for his railways). This particular bridge is not depicted in the 1834 OS 6" map, and must therefore date to later in the same decade. The canal was closed in 1931.

Primary sources:
1. OS 6" map, 1st edition (1834), Co Fermanagh sheet 43 (PRONI OS 6/4/43/1).

Secondary sources:
1. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland (Belfast, 1980).
2. R. Delany, Ireland's Inland Waterways (Belfast, 1986).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

A well-executed bridge associated with the Ulster Canal.