Stragawna Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A late 18th C twin-arch masonry road bridge over the Swanlinbar (Clodagh) River, 1.5km SE of Kinawley on the Derrylin - Belburbet road. It is surrounded by fields to all sides.

The bridge is aligned so that its upstream side faces SW and downstream face is to NE. It comprises two equi-sized stone arches with voussoirs of dressed stone. It is impossible to say, however, whether the abutments, piers and arch soffits are of random or squared rubble masonry as their surfaces have all been gunited. Stones for the original timber falsework project from both arches at spring level.

At the up- and downstream ends of the pier between the arches is a triangular cutwater of roughly-squared stone blocks rising to just above arch spring level. The downstream spandrel between the arches is obscured by ivy, but the stonework on the upstream one suggests a later reconstruction. A water pipe is carried over the arches on metal brackets affixed to the bridge's downstream face.

The parapets are c.5m apart and of random rubble with tabular stone copings; their outside faces are reinforced here and there with rubble masonry buttresses. The original parapets were shorter and terminated in circular piers. These piers survive at both ends of the upstream parapet and at the NW end of the downstream one. The parapets' cementitious mortar indicates extensive rebuilding in the more recent past.

Set into the road face of the upstream parapet is a datestone reading 'Built/ by/ William Irwin/ 1785'. This legend is incised in the smooth face of a concrete block which has been set into the parapet with cement-rich mortar. The rest of the exposed face of this block has been cut back slightly and dressed to mimic stone. It is possibly a replacement of the original plaque. On the opposite side of the road, a valve for controlling the flow of water in the pipe has been set into the parapet.

The two-lane carriageway has a slightly humped profile as it crosses the bridge. Metal signs at both ends read 'Swanlinbar River'.

Historical information

An unnamed bridge is shown over the Clodagh River on Taylor and Skinner's 1777 road map. However, a datestone in the middle of the bridge's upstream parapet attests to its erection in 1785 by William Irwin. The present structure would thus appear to be a replacement bridge.

Stragowna Bridge is explicitly cited in an 1807 presentment relating to the repair of 150 perches of road between it and Drumlahgy, on the Belturbet - Manorhamiton road.

A bridge "of common structure" is noted over the Swanlinbar River at Stragowna in the 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir. It is also captioned 'Stragowna Br' on the 1834 OS six-inch map and subsequent editions.

In 1909, Lisnaskea Rural District Council agreed, on the recommendation of the County Surveyor, to raise the bridges' approaches and, if necessary, to heighten its sidewalls as well. This was presumably to lessen the carriageway's humpback profile.

The bridge was damaged by an explosion in November 1959 when 30ft of the parapet on either side was demolished; there were also two holes in the road. Another bomb in July 1961 resulted in a crater between the two arches and the demolition of a 24ft length of parapet. Stragowna was one of several bridges in this Border region which were targeted by the IRA at this time.

A water pipe was laid across the river at this point in 1962 as part of the Derrylester - Kinawley District water scheme.

References - Primary sources:
1. Taylor & Skinner's Maps of the Roads of Ireland, surveyed 1777, p.53 (1778).
2. Plaque on bridge.
3. Presentments to the Fermanagh County Grand Jury at the 1807 Lent Assizes: Barony of Glenawly, p.169, entry 6 (Accounts Presented to the House of Commons, 1808).
4. PRONI OS/6/4/33/1. First edition OS 1:10,560 map Co Fermanagh sheet 33 (1834).
5. Ordnance Survey Memoir Parish of Ireland vol.4: Parishes of Co Fermanagh 1, p.115; eds. A Day & P McWilliams (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990).
6. PRONI OS/6/4/33/2. Second edition OS 1:10,560 map Co Fermanagh sheet 33 (1857).
7. PRONI OS/6/4/33/3. Third edition OS 1:10,560 map Co Fermanagh sheet 33 (1906-07).
8. PRONI OS/6/7/244/1. First edition OS Irish Grid 1:10,560 map sheet 244.
9. Western Mail, 23 Nov 1959.
10. Belfast Telegraph, 21 Dec 1959.
11. Belfast Telegraph, 25 July 1961.
12. Belfast Telegraph, 6 Dec 1961.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Of the bridge's original fabric, only the abutments, pier and arches possibly survive underneath the modern gunite reinforcement. Its description in the Ordnance Survey Memoir suggests a structure of rubble construction rather than one of dressed stone. Whilst the lengthening of the parapets in the early 1900s is clearly evident, both of them and least one of the spandrels appear to have been substantially rebuilt - probably as a result of bomb damage in 1959 and 1960. The underpinning of the abutments and pier with concrete and the presence of the water pipe across the bridge's downstream face detract from its original character. Though of local interest, due to its many alterations, insufficient original fabric remains for the bridge to be of authentic special interest.