Railway Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A skew arched stone bridge carries the main Belfast-Dublin railway over Lambeg Road, a short distance south of Lambeg Station.
The bridge is constructed of Triassic sandstone except for its soffit. The abutments and wing walls are of randomly sized sandstone blocks, but the remainder of the bridge is entirely of ashlar. The arch spans a two-lane road without footpaths. It is of three-centred (‘semi-elliptical’) profile and has vee-jointed quoins and voussoirs; the latter splay out and double as spandrels. The soffit is of brick, the actual bricks being laid to a helicoidal configuration to take account of the skewnes of the arch. A string course runs around the quoins and through the arch at spring level. Headroom warning triangles (13ft 0in and 3.9m) are affixed to the arch crowns on both faces.
Alternate voussoirs are also painted yellow and black to give advance warning of the restricted headroom. Tapered buttresses run up each side of the arch. Above the arch is a shallow platband, over which is a projecting string course; both these courses continue around the tops of the buttresses. Above the string course is a parapet coped with sandstone and terminating in advanced rectangular piers, also capped with sandstone.
The parapet is surmounted by a modern two-bar galvanized metal handrail. There are curved wing walls at both ends of both faces, of random Triassic sandstone blocks and subsequently heightened in brick

Historical information

The railway between Belfast and Lisburn was opened by the Ulster Railway Company in 1839. It has the distinction of being the first railway in Ulster and the second in Ireland (after the Dublin-Kingstown railway, opened in 1834). The line was extended to Armagh in 1848, and to Dublin (via Portadown) in 1852.
The line was constructed by William Dargan (‘father’ of Irish railways) under the direction of John Godwin (who went on to become Professor of Engineering at Queen’s College, Belfast). The consultants to the Ulster Railway Co were William Bald (who built the Antrim Coast Road) and Thomas Jackson Woodhouse, Co Antrim’s first County Surveyor.
Originally this line was a single track at 6ft 2in gauge. However, with the change to a 5ft 3in gauge throughout Ireland in 1846, it was re-laid as two lines, both to the new gauge. Fortunately, the doubling of the track had been allowed for in the depths of all the bridges along it, including this one.
In 1876, the Ulster Railway Company amalgamated with various other railway enterprises to form 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.

References - Secondary sources:
1. McCutcheon, W.A. The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, pp 104-105, 159 (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

The high quality of the bridge’s stonework reflects the solidity and ‘no expense spared’ image with which the Ulster Railway Company wished to project itself to the public. The skew brick arch is of particular technical interest. The bridge is also a well-known landmark hereabouts and a visible reminder of the railway’s illustrious history. It is also of historical interest in being one of the earliest railway bridges in Ulster. It has group vaue with other neighbour bridges on the same railway line.