Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Wallace’s Bridge,
Magherascouse, Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Demolished
- Address
- Wallace’s Bridge,, The Burn Road,, Magherascouse,, Comber, BT23 5NL
- Townland
- Magherascouse
- Council
- Ards and North Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.50392, -5.76589
- Date of survey
- 24 January 1999
- HB reference
- HB24/16/033
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 1636 "Vltoniae Orientalis Pars" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Department's description
Exterior description and setting
Site, on The Burn Road c.1 mile W of Ballygowan (c.2.5 miles S of Comber) of a road bridge, demolished in c.1974 with a new bridge built in its place.
The original bridge was described in the 1st survey (28th Jan. 1972) as a ‘Hump bridge over the River Blackwater with flat segmental arch, set at an angle to the road and built in rubble with slight upward curve to parapets and curved abutment on E and with roadway junction at NW. Base at waterline reinforced with stone and concrete. Condition fair.
The new bridge is constructed in concrete with a square arch.
Historical information
A bridge is shown on this site on the 1834 and 1858 OS maps marked ‘Wallace’s Bridge’ in both instances. The bridge was replaced with a modern concrete version in c.1974.
References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 16.
2 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 16.
3 EHS HB24/16/33 1st survey notes and slide.
4 EHS OS map 167-6 (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
Site of rubble-built, hump-backed road bridge of probable pre-1834 construction, demolished in c.1974 and replaced with a modern concrete version.
Nearby in the register
- Blackwater Bridge,Bridgeunder 1 mi
- (Site of) Bridge,Demolishedunder 1 mi
- 50 The Brae,Houseunder 1 mi
- Ballygowan Presbyterian Church,Churchunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.