bridge

Single-arch railway bridge, built c.1855, carrying Great Northern Railway over road. Three-centred arch, having rock-faced rusticated and margined stepped limestone voussoirs, and cut-stone soffit. Tapered projecting buttresses and curved wing walls to abutments to each elevation. Coursed rock-faced rusticated limestone to spandrel walls, abutments and buttresses. Cut limestone blocks to parapet walls. Dressed limestone platbands at impost level and running over arch-ring. Dressed limestone copings to wing-walls, terminating in square-plan piers.

Although it is no longer in use, this bridge served an important function in maintaining a level gradient for the railway, allowing it to proceed over obstacles such as the road, and as such, it is representative of the skill and experience of railway engineers in the nineteenth century. It is an aesthetically-pleasing feature, its curved wing walls providing a sense of symmetry. The Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway, later the Great Northern Railway, reached Clones in 1858 and provided a transport link in this area which was indicative of both the commercial productivity of the area and increased communication and interdependence throughout the country at the time. An integral component part of this network, this bridge is a pleasing reminder of the industrial heritage of the area.