Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Rogers Bridge, Upper Fathom Road, Newry, Co Armagh
Fathom Lower, Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Listed building, Grade B2
- Grade
- B2
- Type
- Bridge
- Date of listing
- 26 August 2003
- Date of construction
- 1840 - 1859
- Address
- Rogers Bridge, Upper Fathom Road, Newry, Co Armagh
- Townland
- Fathom Lower
- Council
- Newry, Mourne and Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.13516, -6.33998
- Date of survey
- 15 May 2000
- HB reference
- HB16/13/036
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 1830 "V.3:11-15:XV. Britisches Reich. C. Kon: Ireland. b. Prov: Ulster. Counties: 13-21" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
Roger's Bridge (no. 180) carries the Upper Fathom 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 and just above the crown, and a rusticated, slightly advanced parapet coping. There are shallow buttresses to the approach walls on either side (with tooled edges) which continue upwards to form slightly advanced facings to the parapets. The east end of the south parapet and west end of the north parapet curve sweep round in line with the road's dog-leg approaches and terminate in out-projecting piers.
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.
SOURCE
1. WA McCutcheon (1980), The industrial archaeology of Northern Ireland, (Belfast: HMSO).
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
Evaluation
This bridge is of architectural interest on account of its design and high standard of execution. It 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.
Nearby in the register
- 160 Dublin RoadHouseunder 1 mi
- Killeen Bridge, Killeen, Newry, Co ArmaghBridgeunder 1 mi
- Bridgeunder 1 mi
- 6 Clontigora RoadHouseunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.