bridge

Single-arch "accommodation bridge" over canal, prepared 1852; built 1853; complete 1854. Part creeper- or ivy-covered coursed or snecked limestone walls between coursed or snecked limestone battered piers with rock faced cut-limestone stringcourses supporting parapets having rock faced cut-limestone coping. Single segmental arch with rock faced limestone ashlar "crow stepped" voussoirs centred on rock faced cut-limestone keystones. Sited spanning Canáil Chonga [Cong Canal] with overgrown embankments to canal.

An "accommodation bridge" identified as an important component of the mid nineteenth-century civil engineering heritage of Contae Mhaigh Eo [south County Mayo] on account of the connections with the development of the ill-fated Cong Canal (begun 1848; abandoned 1856) under the Drainage (Ireland) Act, 1846, with the architectural value of the composition confirmed not only by the rock faced dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also by the elegant "sweep" of the arch making a pleasing visual statement at a crossing over the now-dry canal: meanwhile, a discreet benchmark remains of additional interest for the connections with cartography and the preparation of maps by the Ordnance Survey (established 1824).