Historic Buildings Record · Northern Ireland
Bridge,
Magherascouse, Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland
The record
- Designation
- Record only (not listed)
- Grade
- Record Only
- Type
- Bridge
- Date of construction
- 1840 - 1859
- Address
- Bridge,, Magherascouse Road (near No.118),, Magherascouse,, Comber,, Co. Down, BT23 5[?RU]
- Townland
- Magherascouse
- Council
- Ards and North Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Coordinates
- 54.52392, -5.76387
- Date of survey
- 20 January 1999
- HB reference
- HB24/16/035
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 Libraries
Shown on 3 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
Road bridge (over former railway), on the Magherascouse Road, c.2 miles S of Comber.
The bridge is in basalt rubble with an elliptical arch with brick intrados. Sandstone coping to parapet (partly patched in concrete). Sandstone ‘quoins’ to parapet and as course above the arch. The arch on both sides is now fringed with ‘Tyrolean’ render. There is a pipe attached to the bridge on the NE side. OS benchmark to right on NE parapet.
The road is covered in tarmac.
Historical information
This bridge was probably constructed 1856-7 to carry the [present] Magherascouse Road over the new BCDR railway line between Comber and Downpatrick (officially opened in March 1859). The bridge is indicated on the OS map of 1858. The railway closed in 1950.
References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60 Down 10.
2 EHS OS map 167-2 (1:2500) 1972.
Secondary sources
1 W.A. McCutcheon ‘The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland’ (HMSO 1980), pp.157, 175.
2 Desmond Coakham ‘Belfast & County Down Railway’ (Leicester 1998), p.41.
Criteria for listing: architectural interest
Not listed
Criteria for listing: historic interest
Not listed
Evaluation
Road bridge of c.1856, in basalt rubble and sandstone, over a now disused railway cutting.
Nearby in the register
- 13 Magherascouse Road,Demolishedunder 1 mi
- 97 Old Ballygowan Road,Demolishedunder 1 mi
- Bridge,Bridgeunder 1 mi
- Windmill stump,Windmillunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.