Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Bridge over railway cutting at Dunmore Park
Shane's Castle Park, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Listed building, Grade B2
- Grade
- B2
- Type
- Bridge
- Date of listing
- 23 March 2005
- Date of construction
- 1840 - 1859
- Address
- Bridge over railway cutting at Dunmore Park, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim
- Townland
- Shane's Castle Park
- Council
- Antrim and Newtownabbey
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.74527, -6.32429
- Date of survey
- 28 October 2000
- HB reference
- HB20/04/042 T
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 Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1838 "Ireland, north sheet." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
A single arched masonry bridge carrying a private road over a railway cutting, built of rock faced squared basalt rubble with rusticated sandstone voussoirs to the segmental archway. Spandrels and arches inset slightly from the line of abutments and parapets on both faces. Battered faces to abutments. Parapets have sandstone copings, splayed to both sides, and surmounted by wrought iron railings with ornamented cast iron finials, terminating in square end piers of regularly coursed basalt with moulded sandstone cornice and splayed caps. Bridge of slightly humped-back form. Vault of red brick; railway line removed.
SETTING: The bridge stands just outside the town, set back a short distance from the main road; it leads to a former gate lodge and gateway to a country house. Heavily wooded embankments to each side, so overgrown on the north side that the north face is difficult to approach or to view.
Historical information
Built c 1855-6 to carry a private driveway from Shane's Castle estate to the main road, over the railway line from Randalstown to Cookstown, and necessitated by the railway cutting through between the estate and the road. The line was an extension of the Randalstown branch of the Belfast and Ballymena Railway; planned in 1852; built between 1853 and 1860, this section dating from c 1855-6; engineer and architect for company, Charles Lanyon; contractor, William Dargan.
References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1858, Co Antrim 49.
Secondary Sources
1. J.R.L. Currie, The Northern Counties Railway, Vol I (Newton Abbot, 1973), pp 44, 53-56.
2. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland (HMSO, Belfast, 1980), p 122.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
F. Structural System
J. Setting
K. Group value
Criteria for listing: historic interest
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Evaluation
This is an example of early Victorian bridge engineering by an important Irish architect, Charles Lanyon.
General comments
This record was originally numbered as HB20/04/065.
Nearby in the register
- Gates and gate screen at Dunmore LodgeGates/ Screens/ Lodgesunder 1 mi
- First Presbyterian ChurchChurchunder 1 mi
- Garage ('New Street Garages')Factoryunder 1 mi
- Drummaul HouseResidential Homeunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.