Bridge, Aqueduct in Cloonturk

Single-arch canal bridge/aqueduct carrying Royal Canal (Longford Branch) over a small unnamed stream/former millrace, built c. 1829. Canal now dry and in use as a footpath/road for farm access. Elliptical-headed arch with stepped dressed ashlar limestone voussoirs and dressed limestone masonry to barrel. Squared and coursed limestone rubble spandrel walls and abutments. Wing walls curve outwards to form retaining wall to embankment. Modern timber fences to parapets. Located to the southwest of Longford Town.

A typically well-built canal bridge/aqueduct, which is a valuable part of the architectural and industrial heritage of County Longford. Although humble in form, this structure has a simple and functional elegance. It is robustly built in fine stone masonry, which is testament to the long-term ambitions of the Royal Canal Company at the start of the nineteenth century. The wide elliptical arch has a graceful curve and is of some technical merit. Although the canal is currently disused, the bridge/aqueduct now provides a recreational amenity as a walkway. This bridge/aqueduct forms part of an extensive collection of canal-related structures in County Longford, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the area. The waterway running under this bridge may have been a millrace associated with a corn mill to the west of this site.