Lawrencetown Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Lawrencetown Bridge, built c.1813, is a triple-arch masonry bridge carrying a minor road over the River Bann at Lawrencetown.

The bridge is of random rubble blackstone. Arches are of segmental profile, the central arch being slightly higher and wider than those flanking (although the deck is flat). Arch voussoirs are of dressed granite, with raised keystones. Angled cutwaters at both ends of the piers, their random granite blocks rising to arch spring level, then stepping back up to the spandrels. The footings of the piers below the water line are encased in concrete to prevent scouring. The parapets are coped with dressed granite blocks. The SW terminal pier is circular and capped with granite. The SE parapet curves out to a gate screen at the avenue to a neighbouring house. The north ends of the parapets are square cut and have been truncated with the laying of the railway diagonally across the road at this end of the bridge (see below).

The carriageway comprises a 1½ lane road with a footpath along each side.

The NW end of the bridge is abutted by the pier of a single-track railway bridge which ran obliquely across the river immediately downstream of the road bridge. The abutment is of random rock-faced blackstone blocks with margined quoins and chamfered granite copings.

Between this abutment and the river is a slender pier, and on the opposite bank another abutment, all similarly detailed. The track is long removed and its line is now difficult to determine on the ground.

Walling Stone

Setting

The bridge is located to the south of Lawrencetown in a semi-rural landscape with agricultural land to south-east; St Patrick and St Colman's Church (HB17/02/015) to the south and a modern single storey dwelling to north.

Historical information

An uncaptioned bridge is depicted here on all editions of the OS maps from 1833 onwards. From the 1860 edition onwards, the railway bridge is also depicted cutting across its N end.

According to the 1834 Ordnance Survey Memoir, “Laurencetown [sic] Bridge erected in the year 1813 at the country’s expense, cost £650”.

The railway ran between Banbridge and Scarva. It was opened by the Banbridge Junction Railway in 1859 and subsequently taken over by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland). It closed in 1955 and the bridge and line dismantled.

References – Primary sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1. First edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 26 (1833).
2. OS Memoir for Tullylish Parish (1834). Reprinted as A. Day & P. McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland:
Parishes of County Down III, 1833-8, Mid-Down, p.142 (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1992).
3. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2. Second edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 26 (1860).
4. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3. Third edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 26 (1903-04).
5. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4. Fourth edition OS six-inch map, Co Down sheet 26 (1903-17).

References – Secondary sources:
1. S. Johnson, Johnson’s Atlas & Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland, p.100, entry 59 (Leicester: Midland Publishing, 1997).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Lawrencetown Bridge is a triple-arch masonry road bridge of 1813 over the River Bann. It is a good example of 18th/early 19th century bridge design with its rubble masonry construction, angled cutwaters, relatively narrow carriageway and lack of ornamentation. It survives in original condition and represents the development of infrastructure in the area. The remains of the railway bridge are also of note.