Bellanode Bridge, County Monaghan

What is recorded here

Bellanode Bridge has two stone points standing against the river: one full-height, the other only halfway up. The tall one looks ready to fight the Blackwater; the short one seems to have said, ‘Hold on now, let’s hear what the water wants.’

Triple-arched humpback bridge, built c.1790, carrying road over River Blackwater. Segmental arches with rubble sandstone voussoirs, rubble sandstone parapet and spandrel walls, rebuilt to west of south elevation. Gunnelled soffits. V-shaped cutwaters to piers to each elevation: rubble sandstone full-height cut-water to west, roughly-squared sandstone half-height cutwater to east, having concrete reinforcements to base of piers and abutments, and render coping to cut-waters. Water pipe and recent pedestrian bridge to north elevation.

Visible from the road to the south and from the nearby park, this bridge makes a pleasing visual impression on the landscape and a strong contribution to the built heritage of the village of Bellanode. The size of its arches is indicative of its early date, and its unusual arrangement of cut-waters reflects the organic nature of its development and construction, with one perhaps being rebuilt to accommodate changing water flow.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 41400915

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