Ballyleck Bridge

The saved account records: Single-arch humpback canal bridge, built c.1838, carrying private road over Ulster Canal.

The saved account records: Elliptical arch with tooled sandstone voussoirs.

The saved account records: Roughly coursed squared sandstone to spandrel and parapet walls, parapets terminating in square-pan squared sandstone piers.

The saved account records: Squared roughly-coursed sandstone rubble walls having tooled stone coping to approach to bridge.

Ballyleck Bridge matters for the exact reasons given in its official assessment, rather than merely because it is an old structure. The source records: 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… This explains what the place adds to local life, the street or the surviving built history.