Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Orr’s 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
- Orr’s Bridge,, Saintfield Road,, Ballygowan,, Co. Down, BT23 6HB
- Townland
- Ballygowan
- Council
- Ards and North Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.50008, -5.79651
- Date of survey
- 19 January 1999
- HB reference
- HB24/16/010
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
Slightly skewed road bridge sited on the Saintfield Road, just to the W of the village of Ballygowan.
The SE face of the bridge appears largely original, being of flat basalt rubble with a single semicircular arch with sandstone voussoirs. Either side of the arch are large triangular buttresses now faced in concrete. Above the arch is a small hole (probably for drainage) with a ‘shelf’-like protruding stone beneath it.
The NW face of the bridge has been rebuilt in recent times (probably due to the widening of the road) and consists of a square arch in concrete.
The road is covered in tarmac.
Historical information
This bridge is shown on the OS maps of 1834 and 1858 and marked ‘Orrs Bridge’ on both. In recent times the road (to Saintfield) appears to have been widened, with the NW face of the bridge rebuilt in the process.
References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834 Down 16.
2 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60 Down 16.
3 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 rubble SE face appears largely original, but that to the NW is a modern rebuild due to the widening of the road.
Nearby in the register
- Railway Bridge,Bridgeunder 1 mi
- Former Railway freight store,Storeunder 1 mi
- Ravenbank,Houseunder 1 mi
- Ballygowan Bridge,Bridgeunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.