Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
McComb's Bridge
Ballycoshone Lower/ Lenish, Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Listed building, Grade B2
- Grade
- B2
- Type
- Bridge
- Date of listing
- 22 September 1981
- Date of construction
- 1740 - 1759
- Address
- McComb's Bridge, Castlewellan Rd, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down
- Townland
- Ballycoshone Lower/ Lenish
- Council
- Newry, Mourne and Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.23186, -6.11166
- Date of survey
- 10 February 1999
- HB reference
- HB16/07/025
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
University Library, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDavid 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 carries the main Rathfriland - Castlewellan Road over the Upper Bann River, two miles east of Rathfriland. It comprises three semicircular spans, the middle one of which is the highest and widest. It is of random rubble granite throughout, with angled cutwaters to carriageway level on both sides. Projecting stones along the arch spring lines indicate the position of the falsework on which the arches were constructed. The parapets are coped with squared granite blocks and are 43cm thick. The carriageway is 6.2m wide is rises slightly from west to east. The bridge has an overall width of 7.06m (23ft 2in).
Metal tie bars have been inserted across the spandrels in the more recent past, the soffits 'gunnited' (sprayed concrete) and the banks pitched with shuttered concrete. The bed of the river is pitched with boulders.
Historical information
A road is shown on Moll's 1714 map crossing the Bann at this point, and a bridge captioned on Harris's 1743 map. It is cited by name on the 1833 OS 6" map and described in the 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoir (Clonduff Parish) as: "... an old structure of unhewn stone, not in very good repair and having two parapet walls 5' high. It is thrown over the River Bann, which is there 66' broad. It consists of three arches. Its total length is 156' and breadth 18'.
Whether the existing structure is the same as that described in the OSM is uncertain - its parapets are now lower (presuming the 5ft is from the carriageway), but its width is the same (presuming the 18ft to relate to the roadway only). On balance the rubble stonework and full-length cutwaters suggest an 18th century bridge.
Primary sources:
1. H. Moll (1714), A New Map of Ireland.
2. W. Harris (1743), A New and Correct Map of ye County of Down.
3. 1st edition OS 6" map (Down sheet 42).
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
A. Style
B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
Criteria for listing: historic interest
X. Local Interest
Evaluation
A well proportioned and finely executed bridge typical of the period.
Nearby in the register
- Former flax mill to rear ofFarm Buildingsunder 1 mi
- Bridge over River BannBridgeunder 1 mi
- Disused Flax millMillunder 1 mi
- Clonduff Presbyterian ChurchChurchunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.