Bridge,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Road bridge carrying the Ballystockart Road over the Gransha River, c.2 miles W of Comber.

The bridge is rubble built with a single elliptical arch and concrete coping to the parapets. The date ‘1889’ has been in the coping to the W side.

The bridge shows traces of having been covered in a rough render at some point. Are some of the voussoirs brick?
The road is covered in tarmac.

Historical information

A bridge is shown on this site on the OS maps of 1834 and 1858. The date ‘1889’ could suggest that the present structure dates from that year, or perhaps that an earlier one was simply repaired, withwith coping possibly added, at this point. The presence of an elliptical arch and the lack of a hump back to the bridge (both pointers to a greater degree of technical sophistication) suggests it is probably not pre 1833 and may date from the mid to later 1800s.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834 Down 10.
2 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60 Down 10.
3 EHS OS map 148-13 (1:2500) 1970.

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

Relatively plain rubble built road bridge possibly dating from the mid to later 19th century.