Juggy's Bridge, Cottage Wood, Florence Court, Co Fermanagh

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A rustic stone bridge providing access over the Finglass River into the Cottage Wood from the old nursery and ornamental Area. At one time this bridge would have very visible, especially to the north where formerly lay Juggy's Meadow, and lies only ten metres or so from the world famous original Irish yew (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'), found c.1760 on Carraignamadagh by a tenant. The bridge has a width of 4.40m with a span of 3.20m, springing from abutments 1.10m high. The barrel vault of the bridge has a height of 1.65m over the stream bed. At each end the neat stone vaulting of the bridge is broken for a length of c.50cm of irregular ';grotto-like' stones that project at different angles from the soffit underside, giving the structure a 'rustic' effect. The top of the structure is defined each side by a single course of parapet stones.

Historical information

An ornamental grotesque bridge built in the later 18th century (probably in the 1780s) and evidently built in association with a complex of ornamental features in the area, including the famous original Irish Yew, about 10 yards distance to the east; a megalithic folly and an enchanting thatched 'Hansel and Gretel' style 'Cane Cottage' (an ornamental 'Swiss' cottage) that lay a few hundred yards to the west in the woods. The bridge and the cottage were formerly separated by an open lawn in the woods, known as 'Juggy's Meadow'. A path led along the west bank of the river and across this meadow to the cottage. To the east of the bridge lay (and this lies) the original Irish yew and close by to the south east an ornamental megalithic that formed part of a flower garden on McKimm's 1814 map. The bridge would have been a visible feature of this late 18th century ornamental area within the woods, but has now become very overgrown and is now all but invisible to the casual passer-by.

The bridge, built in the 'Grotto' or 'wildly grotesque' style using curiously shaped or deformed stones, can be broadly compared with bridges at Luggala, Co. Wicklow; Danesmote, Co. Dublin; Arch Hall in Co. Meath and with the much larger 'Fairy Bridge' at Rockingham, Co. Roscommon, the latter situated on the edge of Lough Key.

Reeves-Smyth, T (1990) Florence Court Demesne. Three Volumes. (Vol 3 p 145). National Trust Unpublished.
D.McKimm. 1814 Demesne Map. PRONI T2094/3A.

Howley, James (1993) The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland, Yale UP. [The bridge is not included in this book but for comparisons see pp182-194].

Nelson, E.C (1981) 'The nomenclature and history in cultivation of the Irish yew Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'. Glasra, Vol. 5, pp33-44 [The bridge is not mentioned in this paper, which focuses upon the yew].

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Bridge designed as part of an ornamental area associated with the romantic thatched 'Cane Cottage' in the Cottage Wood (now destroyed). The bridge is in the 18th century grotesque or 'Grotto' style and is a unique example of its kind in Northern Ireland, though it has a few parallels in the south of Ireland.