Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Bridge
Ballyrogan or Mourne Park, Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Listed building, Grade B2
- Grade
- B2
- Type
- Bridge
- Date of listing
- 14 August 1981
- Date of construction
- 1800 - 1819
- Address
- Bridge, Mourne Park, Newry Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down
- Townland
- Ballyrogan or Mourne Park
- Council
- Newry, Mourne and Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.07227, -6.06451
- Date of survey
- 23 July 1998
- HB reference
- HB16/05/008
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1636 "Vltoniae Orientalis Pars" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
This bridge formerly carried the main Kilkeel - Newry road over the White Water River; it now lies within Mourne Park demesne, near its south-west corner.
It comprises two arches of rounded rubble Silurian and granite fieldstones, with coarsely-dressed granite voussoirs. The left-bank arch, which is dry in normal circumstances, is narrower and lower than the right arch. The former has a segmental profile, whereas the latter is semicircular. There is an angled cutwater on both up- and downstream sides of the pier. These extend to the tops of the parapets where they form pedestrian refuges.
The carriageway has a very pronounced hump-back. The left arch being lower, the road, which is only 3.8m wide, crests over the crown of the main arch, rather than over the pier. The parapets are 90cm high by 35cm thick.
No vehicular access is now possible, a granite post having been inserted into the centre of the track at the east end (left bank) of the bridge. There is a pair of wrought and cast-iron gates at the other end.
The structure is now overgrown with ivy, and the parapet tops are starting to deteriorate.
Historical information
The formalisation of the boundaries of Mourne Park in the early 1800s resulted in the rerouting of the main Newry road to the south of its former course. This necessitated the construction of a replacement bridge (HB16/05/064), this one becoming defunct as regards public usage. Judging by its style and associations with the original road line, it is almost certainly of 18th century date. It is shown within the estate on the 1834 OS 6” map.
Primary sources:
1. PRONI – OS 6/3/55/1 (1844 OS map) (Down sheet 55).
2. Photograph in Green Collection (WAG 2685) at Ulster Folk and Transport Museum..
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
J. Setting
K. Group value
Criteria for listing: historic interest
X. Local Interest
Evaluation
The bridge is an excellent example of a pre-l9th century road bridge, exemplified in its unequal arches, pronounced humped back, narrowness, fieldstone construction, and pedestrian refuges – all features which are now uncommon to most bridges. It has a dramatic setting over the cascading river. It also has group value when taken with the two road bridges immediately downstream from it in illustrating the evolution of bridge construction over the last two centuries.
Nearby in the register
- Ice Houseunder 1 mi
- White Water Bridge, Between 221 & 245 Newry Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down BT34 4SDBridgeunder 1 mi
- The White Water GatesGates/ Screens/ Lodgesunder 1 mi
- White Water LodgeGates/ Screens/ Lodgesunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.