Ballyleck Bridge

Single-arch humpback canal bridge, built c.1838, carrying private road over Ulster Canal. Elliptical arch with tooled sandstone voussoirs. Roughly coursed squared sandstone to spandrel and parapet walls, parapets terminating in square-pan squared sandstone piers. Tooled stone platband over arch. Gunnelled squared stone to soffit. Tow path with tooled stone coping running to north abutment. Squared roughly-coursed sandstone rubble walls having tooled stone coping to approach to bridge. Towpath to north underside of bridge, with cut-stone kerbing.

Linking Lough Neagh with Upper Lough Erne, the Ulster canal reached Monaghan in 1838 and was intended to provide a means of transport for passengers and bulk produce, thus aiding industry and the economy in the area. The shape of the arch of this bridge represents its later date of construction, as the three-centred arch was primarily employed in earlier canal bridges. Skilled craftsmanship and engineering is evident, and tooled stone platbands and voussoirs enliven the bridge. This piece of canal infrastructure forms a somewhat subtle, component part of the built heritage of the Ulster Canal, and is reminiscent of the industrial and social history of County Monaghan.