Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Ballyrickard Bridge
Ballyrickard, Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Bridge
- Date of construction
- 1840 - 1859
- Address
- Ballyrickard Bridge, (formerly over railway), Moate Road, Ballyrickard, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 4XA
- Townland
- Ballyrickard
- Council
- Ards and North Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.56372, -5.71082
- Date of survey
- 09 September 1998
- HB reference
- HB24/13/073
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 1794 "Sheet 55. (Cary's England, Wales, and Scotland)." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
Road bridge (over a former railway line/tunnel) on the Moate Road, c.1.5 miles NE of Comber. The bridge is built of rock faced, dressed sandstone. To the NE side the archway is largely filled (the cutting has been filled in). To each side of the arch is a battered pier and above the arch is a slightly projecting course. Coping to parapet. To the SW side of the road the railway line appears to have travelled underground so that all that can be seen is a low sandstone wall, now with much in the way of rubble and greenery against it.
The road itself is covered in tarmac.
Historical information
This bridge was constructed as part of the railway line (Belfast & Co. Down Railway) linking Belfast, Comber and Newtownards, which opened in May 1850. The line was abandoned in 1953.
This bridge appears to have been over a tunnel section of the line.
References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS Maps 1st rev. 1859-60, Co. Down 10.
Secondary sources
1 E.M. Patterson 'The Belfast & County Down railway' (Lingfield: Oakwood Press 1958).
2 E.R.R. Green 'The industrial archaeology of Co. Down' (HMSO 1963), p.62.
3 W.A. McCutcheon 'The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland' (HMSO 1980), pp.174-177.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
Sandstone road bridge (over a railway line/tunnel) of 1848-50, now partly submerged to the north east side.
Nearby in the register
- Ballyrickard HouseHouseunder 1 mi
- Railway bridgeBridgeunder 1 mi
- The MoateOutbuildingsunder 1 mi
- The Booten (East),Houseunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.