Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Ballygowan Bridge,
Ballygowan, Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Bridge
- Date of construction
- 1820 - 1839
- Address
- Ballygowan Bridge,, The Square,, Ballygowan,, Co. Down, BT23 6HA
- Townland
- Ballygowan
- Council
- Ards and North Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.50234, -5.79238
- Date of survey
- 19 January 1999
- HB reference
- HB24/16/003
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 LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 5 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 spanning the Ballygowan River as it passes through the centre of the village of Ballygowan.
The NW face of the bridge appears largely original, being of random basalt rubble construction with two small-ish segmental arches and a central cutwater. At this side the river is enclosed on the N side by a basalt rubble ‘bank’. Matching rubble parapet to NW side.
The SE side has been reconstructed (undoubtedly due to the widening of the Road in fairly recent times) and has a curving coursed rubble parapet and two modern square concrete arches.
The road above is covered in tarmac.
Historical information
The original (slightly narrower) version of this bridge is shown on the OS maps of 1834 and 1858 and also indicated on Taylor’s and Skinner’s 1777 map of the area. In recent times the road has been widened slightly necessitating the reconstruction of the SE face of the bridge.
In 1811 the Belfast News-Letter carried a wanted notice concerning a Patrick Miskelly who had been accused of the murder of a William Skilling on ‘Ballygowan Bridge’. Miskelly was said to have fled the scene and was reported as heading southwards to Saintfield and thence to Loughinisland.
References- Primary sources
1 ‘Taylor’s and Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland’ (Dublin 1777), map 283.
2 Linen Hall Library BNL [?] 1811.
3 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834 Down 16.
4 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60 Down 16.
5 EHS OS map 167-9 (1:2500) 1973.
Secondary sources
1 W.A. McCutcheon ‘The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland’ (HMSO 1980), pp.15-16.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
Road bridge over the Ballygowan River of probable pre 1834 origin. The random rubble NW face appears largely original, but that to the SE is a modern rebuild due to the widening of the road.
Nearby in the register
- Ravenbank,Houseunder 1 mi
- Davidson’s Railway Hotel,Public Houseunder 1 mi
- Public House (‘Burgundy Ben’s’),Public Houseunder 1 mi
- Road and rail bridge,Bridgeunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.