Wolfenden's Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A nine-arch masonry bridge carries the Ballyskeagh Road over the River Lagan just north of Lambeg Parish Church. It is constructed of random rubble blackstone throughout. The piers have triangular cutwaters on both up- and downstream ends, rising to the base of the parapets. The arches are approximately equi-sized and have roughly segmental profiles. The five arches at the south end span the river and the four at north are flood arches (all on the Co Down side). Their voussoirs are of split blackstone, except for that on the downstream (W) face of the northmost arch which is of split Triassic sandstone. The southmost arch soffit has been gunited, but the rubble masonry soffits are visible under the other arches. There is no longitudinal break in the stonework to indicate any widening. Tie rods hold the sides of the south two and northmost arches together (the southmost arch has five such ties). The parapets are of quarried rubble basalt with concrete copings. They have undoubtedly been rebuilt from time to time. Indeed, the north end of the downstream parapet has been rebuilt in the recent past. Substantial rubble basalt buttresses have been built along both sides of the north approach road. The carriageway comprises two lanes for traffic and one footpath.
The north end of the approach road crosses over the now-defunct headrace to the former Lambeg Bleachworks. The bridge which carries the road is of random rubble construction, with a semicircular arch of split stone voussoirs, and the south abutment of which is underpinned and faced with concrete. The race is now dry and the mill premises have been redeveloped as an industrial estate.

Historical information

Prior to the construction of the present Belfast-Lisburn road via Dunmurry in the early 1800s, the Hillhall Road and Ballyskeagh Road (on which this bridge is located) were the principal routes between the two towns.

The bridge is named after the Wolfenden family who settled in this area in the later 1600s. They lived in Lambeg House (now renamed Chrome Hill) and established the Lambeg Bleachworks in the later 1600s.

The 1837 Ordnance Survey for Lambeg Parish notes: “It [the bridge] is said to be a very old bridge. However, William III, in travelling to Lisburn in 1688, crossed from the county Down in the county Antrim by a ford on the site of the above bridge. It would seem that his carriage sustained some injury in crossing the ford, for in ascending a hill in the road a little to the south of it, his carriage broke down”.

The bridge’s precise date of erection is unknown, except that it was presumably sometimes after 1688. No road is shown on Moll’s 1714 map, but given that King William passed by here, this omission may not accord with reality and cannot be used as a terminus post quem. A bridge is shown on Oliver Sloane's 1739 map of Co Down and on Taylor & Skinners 1777 road map. It is not improbable that these depictions are of the present bridge, thus placing it in the earlier 1700s, if not the later 1600s.
The 1837 OSM goes on to describe the bridge in detail: “It has nine half-circular arches; span of each arch 15ft, breadth of the road on the bridge 18ft; average height of parapets 2ft 6in, thickness of parapet 1ft 4in, length of bridge 52 yards, length of parapets on either side of road 120 yards. The bridge and parapet are built of whinstone and seem in a permanent condition at present”.

References – Primary sources
1. Moll, H., New Map of Ireland (1714).
2. Sloane, O. Map of County Down (1739).
3. Taylor G. & Skinner A. Maps of the Roads of Ireland (1777).
4. Ordnance Survey Memoir, Co Antrim: Lambeg Parish (1837). Reprinted as Day, A. & McWilliams, P. (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, vol.8, pp 140-141(Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1991).

References - Secondary sources
1. Brett, C.E.B. Buildings of North County Down, p.250 (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
Z. Rarity
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

This is a good example of an 18th century bridge, with its irregularly profiled arches, triangular cutwaters, rubble stonework and relatively narrowness (compared with later ones). Although some of the the parapets have been rebuilt (probably a number of times), they are in keeping with the bridge's original character. The bridge is also a striking feature of the riverscape hereabouts. It is of national historical interest due to its early date and scarcity. It has connections with the Wolfenden family, and is on the site of a ford crossed by William III on his way to the Battle of the Boyne. After Shaw's Bridge, it is the oldest surviving bridge over the Lagan between Belfast and Lisburn