Bridge in Clonrye

Single-arch humpback railway bridge, built c.1860, carrying road over Clones and Cavan Extension Railway. Three-centred arch with rock-faced rusticated and margined sandstone voussoirs, and coursed snecked rock-faced rusticated stone to soffits. Dressed stone plat-band at impost level of arch, not continued through arch. Tapered stone buttresses flanking arch, continuing to form wing walls flanking road. Squared random rubble stone throughout, margined quoins to buttresses, incomplete rock-faced rusticated sandstone copings to parapets. Metal pipe running along north face of bridge.

This elegantly-composed bridge is an important reminder of the industrial heritage of this area. It formed a component part of the Cavan Branch of the Ulster Railway, later the Great Northern Railway. It was opened by the Clones and Cavan Extension Railway, but built and worked by the Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway. It is articulated by rock-faced rusticated sandstone coping and voussoirs, which produce an appealing textural visual affect, and the fact that it remains largely intact is a testament to the skill of the civil engineers and stone workers of the nineteenth century.