Footbridge over sunken drive

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A narrow pedestrian bridge of humped back profile carrying a pathway over a sunken driveway, linking the gardens of Rosemount House (Grey Abbey House) with the pasture-land to the north.
North-west face: walling of rubble stonework with a segmental arch of red brickwork; rubble stone parapet with fieldstone copings. To the left-hand side of the arch is a rectangular block of dressed stone with two small square socket holes. The parapet continues to each side in raking approach paths.
South-east face: similar to north face but contains a dressed stone block with square socket holes to each spandrel of archway.
Underside of bridge is a roughly whitened brick vault springing from rubble stone piers.
Path on top of bridge is roughly cement screeded, and partly grassed to each end. On the north approach path is a gateway comprising a pair of plain modern timber posts with an old flat-iron and railinged gate of no special interest.

SETTING: The bridge stands in the grounds of Rosemount House straddling the sunken driveway, with one approach path located in the open grassy pasture-land, and the other located in the garden where it is surrounded by trees, bushes and shrubs.

Historical information

Built for the Montgomery family of Rosemount (Grey Abbey House) to span the sunken driveway to the north of the main house and link the lawn adjacent to the main house with the parkland beyond the driveway; precise date not known, but it appears for the first time on the OS map of 1858; not shown on the OS map of 1834.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1834, Co Down 11 (shows sunken driveway without bridge).
2. OS Map 1858, Co Down 11 (shows sunken driveway with bridge).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a nicely proportioned early Victorian footbridge in largely unaltered condition, which forms a picturesque garden feature in the demesne of Rosemount House. It both spans a sunken driveway and provides a vantage point for viewing the Cistercian abbey ruins.