Ballycorkey Bridge

Wide-span single-arched road bridge over River Inny, dated 1857. Possibly incorporating the fabric of an earlier bridge to either end (north and south). Constructed using coursed rusticated squared limestone rubble with rusticated rock-faced limestone voussoirs to segmental arch. Projecting pulvinated string course at road level and at springing point of arch. Dressed limestone barrel-shaped coping over parapet and terminating piers, on square-plan to either end (north and south). Located to the south of Rathowen.

A robustly-built and handsome road bridge, of mid nineteenth-century appearance, which is a pleasing and distinct feature in the rural landscape. The good quality heavily rusticated masonry is a typical feature of the many bridges built by Board of Works in the mid nineteenth-century, particularly between c.1847-60. Indeed, this bridge is dated 1857 and is similar to a number of other bridges in the area, suggesting that this bridge was built as part of the drainage/building programme at this time. The arch to this bridge is amongst the widest of its type in Westmeath and is of some technical merit. The present bridge replaced an earlier twelve-arch bridge located at this site, at a time when the River Inny was considerably wider at this point (Ordnance Survey Map 1838; Lewis 1837). The sections of the approaches to this bridge, to the north and south, which is supported by buttresses at a number of locations, are probably part of this earlier bridge and may be of considerable antiquity. Ballycorkey Bridge is an important element of the civil engineering Heritage of County Westmeath and continues to play an important role in the communications network in the area and is an element of the civil engineering Heritage of County Westmeath and is an attractive structure in its own right.