Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Bridge,
Ballywilliam, Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Listed building, Grade B2
- Grade
- B2
- Type
- Bridge
- Date of listing
- 27 February 2004
- Date of construction
- 1820 - 1839
- Address
- Bridge,, off Ballygowan Road (near Ballywilliam House),, Comber,, Co. Down, BT23 5PG
- Townland
- Ballywilliam
- Council
- Ards and North Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.53922, -5.76939
- Date of survey
- 19 January 1999
- HB reference
- HB24/16/029
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
Small bridge, carrying the former main entrance drive to Ballywilliam House over a former mill race, to the E of the Ballygowan Road roughly a mile SE of Comber.
The bridge is in random rubble and has a hump (or hog) back. There are two semicircular arches and a central cutwater. Both faces of the bridge are partly covered in greenery.
The parapets ascend to a point at both sides and have concrete coping. The drive over the bridge is rough and muddy.
The bridge does not appear to be totally sound structurally and there is a notice near by alerting drivers to this.
To the W of the bridge are two sturdy gate pillars with the remains of simple wrought iron gates.
Historical information
A bridge is shown on this site on the OS maps of 1834 and 1858 which probably corresponds to the structure still standing. The bridge carried the entrance drive to what was then known as Farm Hill (a house which later evolved into the present Ballywilliam House), over a mill race. This race served a flax mill to the south, which was in possession of the owners of Farm Hill, the Boyd family, at the time of the 1st and 2nd valuations in 1834 and c.1863. The Boyds appear to have been resident at Farm Hill since at least 1781, so conceivably the mill race, and hence this bridge, could have late 18th century origins.
For more historical information on Farm Hill/Ballywilliam House see HB24/16/028.
References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.654 Londonderry Papers. [This collection contains documents concerning the townland of Ballywilliam which was once part of the Londonderry estates.]
2 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
3 PRONI VAL1B/316C, p.49 1st valuation Comber parish 1834.
4 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p.39.
5 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 10.
6 PRONI 2nd valuation Comber parish c.1863.
7 EHS OS map 148-14 (1:2500) 1970.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
A. Style
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
Criteria for listing: historic interest
X. Local Interest
Evaluation
Small hump-backed bridge of probable pre 1834 origin, carrying the former main entrance to Ballywilliam House over a former mill race.
Nearby in the register
- Ballywilliam House,Houseunder 1 mi
- House to NE ofHouseunder 1 mi
- 55 Old Ballygowan Road,Demolishedunder 1 mi
- 41 Old Ballygowan Road,Houseunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.