Muckamore Bridge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A five-arched masonry bridge, widened partly in brickwork, carrying the main road over the Six Mile Water.

Built mainly of blackstone rubble with rough stone voussoirs to segmental arches, rubble vaults, and the piers faced with triangular cutwaters of similar rubble, but the northern arches on the upstream side have been rebuilt with brick voussoirs and vaults, and their piers faced with lower triangular cutwaters of coursed basalt.

On the west face the spandrels and parapet are of basalt rubble, in the same plane, but the top of the parapet has been newly rebuilt. On the east face the spandrels of the southern arches are set back slightly below the parapet, all of basalt rubble, but the spandrels of the rebuilt northern arches are flush with the parapet and all stonework of the northern portion is of quarry dressed basalt, with the parapet capped in cement render. Carriageway is flat, with a raised footpath on the west side.

SETTING: The bridge stands in a rural area which is currently being developed with housing adjacent to the south end of the bridge on the west side. The bank on the east side at the south end is of comparatively flat grass; to the west side at the south end the bank has been rebuilt with basalt rocks; both banks at the north end are steep, with mature trees and thick bushes. At the north end the parapets extend to abut a railway bridge (HB20/13/008).

Historical information

Precise date of bridge not known but it appears on the OS map of 1832. Noticed by the Ordnance Survey memoirs in the 1830s as follows: "2 good and substantial bridges traverse the Six Mile Water. That of Massereene was built in 1708, that of Muckamore appears to be of later date." Also referred to by the Ordnance Survey memoirs as 'Moylinny Bridge' and described as "a clumsy old structure but in a tolerably sound state. It consists of 5 semicircular arches and measures 94 feet in length and 22 feet in width".
Precise date of widening in brickwork not known but looks like mid-to-late 19th century work.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1832, Co Antrim 50 (but not named).
2. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 50 (named 'Muckamore Bridge').
3. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 35: Parishes of County Antrim XIII, 1833, 1835, 1838 (Belfast, 1996), pp 55 and 64.
Secondary Sources
1. UAHS, Antrim and Ballymena (Belfast, 1969), p 13.
2. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland (HMSO, Belfast, 1980), p 31.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

B. Proportion
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is an example of a late 18th century bridge of masonry construction which has been widened partly in brick, thus introducing variety to the original composition and consequently displaying the use of basalt rubble, quarry dressed basalt, and brickwork construction in the one structure. It stands in largely unspoiled condition, enjoys a relatively unspoiled setting, and together with the adjacent railway bridge (HB20/13/008) forms part of an interesting group.