Road over rail bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This skew single-arch brick and stone bridge carries a one-and-a-half lane minor road over the double-track Lisburn-Lurgan section of the Belfast-Dublin railway, just north of the Lisburn – Moira road. The line runs along a cutting at this point.
The abutments are of ashlar sandstone, with minor repairs in red brick where weathered. A chamfered ashlar sandstone string course also runs around the quoins and through the arch at spring level. The arch is of segmental profile, with vee-jointed ashlar sandstone voussoirs which splay out to form spandrels. The soffit is of skew set brickwork.

There is a tapered projecting buttress to each side, of rusticated and margined sandstone blocks set in regular courses. The buttresses extend up to the tops of the parapets and have shallow pyramidal sandstone caps.

The wing walls are set out from the face of the bridge and commence just beyond the buttresses. They are of random rubble blackstone construction.

The parapets are of dressed sandstone blocks with replacement brickwork along the top where weathered. They are topped with finely dressed sandstone copings. The copings over the bridge and wing walls step up in two places, in line with the rising gradient of the road (from south to north). There are out-projecting terminal piers at each end. A brick string course runs along the base of each parapet and around the buttress extensions.

The curved approach wall at the NE end is of more modern brickwork with a concrete coping. It is probably a relatively modern replacement of the original sandstone wall rather than a new extension.
A high random rubble blackstone wall retains the bank at the SE end of the bridge.
A modern galvanised metal staircase runs down the bank to track at SW.

Historical information

This bridge lies on the Lisburn-Lurgan section of the Belfast-Dublin railway. The Belfast-Lisburn section was opened by the Ulster Railway Company in August 1839 and had been extended to Lurgan by November 1841. The line was constructed by William Dargan under the direction of the company’s Resident Engineer John Godwin.
The line was initially laid as a 6ft 2in gauge single track. Following the standardisation of Ireland’s railways in 1846, the line was relaid to 5ft 3in gauge and the opportunity was also taken to double it; this work was completed by late 1847. However, such doubling had been anticipated when the bridge was being designed, so no structural alterations to it were required.
The bridge is depicted on the 1858 Ordnance Survey six-inch map and subsequent editions.

In 1876, the Ulster Railway Company became part of the Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland). The Ulster Transport Authority took over operations in 1958, and the Northern Ireland Railway Co in 1968. Translink is now responsible for the line’s operation but the maintenance of all road-over-railway bridges such as this example rests with DRD Roads Service.
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References – Primary sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/67/2. Second edition OS six-inch map, Co Antrim sheet 67 (1858).

References - Secondary sources:
1. McCutcheon, W.A. The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, pp 104-105 (Belfast: HMSO, 1980).

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 railway bridge is of architectural interest for its use of ashlar sandstone, splayed voussoirs, skew brick arch soffit and ashlar string courses. Its splayed voussoirs are reminiscent of some of the bridges on the Belfast - Lisburn line, but the use of brick rather than sandstone in the soffit is in marked contrast. The bridge is also of local historical interest as an unaltered example of a bridge dating from the inception of this section of the Ulster Railway and has group value with the other local listed bridge on this line (HB19.03.013).