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Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland

Wallace’s Bridge,

Magherascouse, Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Wallace’s Bridge, Magherascouse, Ards and North Down, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

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 Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1636 map "Vltoniae Orientalis Pars" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1636 · Vltoniae Orientalis Pars (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1794 · Sheet 55. (Cary's England, Wales, and Scotland). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the Department's Historic Buildings Record ↗

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

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Department for Communities, Historic Environment Division, Historic Buildings Record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Department for Communities, Historic Environment Division · Open Government Licence v3.0
All Demolished in Ards and North Down All Council Ards and North Down records All Northern Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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