Bridge in Ballynagoshen, County Longford

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Single-arch rail accommodation bridge over the Dublin to Sligo railway line, built c. 1854. Segmental-headed arch with rock-faced limestone voussoirs having dressed margins. Coursed squared limestone masonry to spandrels, abutments and barrel. Rubble stone parapets having terminating piers (on square-plan). Rounded roughly dressed limestone coping over parapets. Located in the rural countryside to the southeast of Longford Town and to the west of Edgeworthstown.

This well-built and robust railway bridge retains its early form and character. The use of rock-faced limestone for the voussoirs is typical of mid-to-late nineteenth-century railway engineering/architecture in Ireland. This bridge appears to have been an accommodation bridge as it does not carry a road, and it was probably originally built by the railway company as part compensation after the route of the railway line bisecting a farm holding. It was originally built by the Midland and Great Western Railway Company to serve the Mullingar to Sligo line, which reached as far as Longford Town in 1855 and was completed in 1862. It is an interesting feature on the rural landscape to the west of Edgeworthstown and it represents an integral component of the architectural and industrial heritage of County Longford.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 13401457

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Photo credits

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
SE Keenan, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Mike Searle, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
Charles T. G. Clarke, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
2ManyCats4Me, Wikimedia Commons · CC0
Gillaween, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

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