Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single-span segmental-arched stone road bridge, built c.1860, set over the Belfast-Ballymena Railway on a north/south axis with stone piers and steel gates to the north, formerly giving access to Islandreagh House and a mill complex.

Rough-hewn squared sandstone walls with sandstone ashlar quoins to the edges havng tooled edges and a plain projecting string-course at springing level. The arch is segmental formed in sandstone rockfaced ashlar voussoirs with tooled edges with a rendered soffit. To both sides is a tapered buttress rising level with the top of the arch. The parapet wall is surmounted by sandstone ashlar coping. The abutments continue to either side to meet grassy railway embankments. At deck level, a pair of square piers to the north end are formed in sandstone as before wuith pyramidal capstones of ogee profile on a projecting base. Piers support wrought iron gates and form the entrance to Islandreagh House with curved screen walls facing the road formed in rock faced squared sandstone.

Historical information

Bridge first appears on second edition (1857) OS map. It appears unchanged on the subsequent two OS map editions (1900s and 1920s).

The Belfast-Ballymena Railway (BBRC) openened in April 1848. The first sod of the new broad-gauge line had been cut at Whitehouse in November 1845 by 10th Viscount Massereene. The station is shown on the 1857 OS map marked ‘Templepatrick Station’. In 1860 the line was extended to serve Ballymoney, Coleraine, Portrush and Londonderry, and was incorporated as the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (BCNR). Engineer-architect John Lanyon, son of Sir Charles Lanyon, was commissioned to build stations along the Northern Counties line in 1873, and it is likely that, as well as designing the stations, he had a hand in designing the bridges on the line.

References –Primary:

1. PRONI OS/6/1/50/2, OS Map, Second Edition, No. 50, 1857.

Secondary Sources:
1. Currie, J.R.L; The Northern Counties Railway Vol.1 (David & Charles, 1973)
2. Leggatt, J.E.; The Irish Commercial and Railway Gazetteer (McCorquodale & Co, 1907)
3. McCutcheon, W.A. The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, DOE 1984

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

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Single-span segmental-arched stone road bridge, built c.1860. A fine stone bridge exhibiting high quality masonry and part of Islandreagh House as a railway bridge built for a private house it is rare. It is also part of a group of historic structures associated with Islandreagh House. The bridge is also part of railway heritage.