Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This bridge (no. 181) carries the Barracric Road over the double track Belfast-Dublin railway, just east of the main Dundalk road. It comprises a single semi-elliptical span of coarsely-dressed granodiorite blocks throughout, all regularly coursed except for the parapet which is irregularly laid. It is embellished with tooled edges to the abutments, rock-faced voussoirs (also with a tooled edge), a rusticated string course through the arch at spring level, a finely-dressed string course just above the crown, and a finely-dressed, chamfered and slightly advanced parapet coping. The parapets follow the road gradient, rising in steps from west to east (two steps on the north parapet, and four on the south); they have strap-pointed road faces. There are shallow buttresses to the approach walls on either side (with tooled edges) which continue up to parapet level. The east end of the north parapet curves to continue north as a random rubble wall separating the road from the railway cutting.

This is one of several bridges across a 3km long rock-cut excavation bringing the line up from the Newry direction between Cloghoge and Killeen.

Historical information

Erected in 1851 by the Dublin & Belfast Junction Railway Co to designs by its chief engineer Sir John Macneill; its construction was undertaken by William Dargan. With the completion of the Craigmore Viaduct in 1852, the line between Belfast and Dublin became fully operational

Secondary Source:
1. W.A. McCutcheon, 'Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland' (Belfast 1980).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This bridge has historical associations with Sir John Macneill and William Dargan ('father' of Irish railways). It is similar to other rail-related bridges hereabouts, all of which form a coherent group associated with the rock-cut excavation, a substantial civil engineering work in its own right. However, its modest scale does not make it sufficiently special to merit listing.