bridge

Single-arch railway bridge, built c.1860, carrying road over Portadown and Cavan Branch of the former Ulster Railway. Triple-centred arch with rock-faced rusticated sandstone voussoirs and dressed sandstone soffits. Rock-faced rusticated sandstone buttresses flanking arch to each elevation. Rock-faced rusticated spandrel and abutment walls, having tooled sandstone plat-bands at impost level and to base of parapet wall. Squared stone parapet walls, re-pointed to interior, with tooled stone copings.

The Monaghan-Clones Branch of the Ulster Railway (later subsumed into the Great Northern Railway) opened on 2nd March 1863, and closed in 1959. The widespread nature of the railway network in this area is indicative of the prevalence of industry in the locality. This well-composed bridge is representative of the skill in engineering and stone-working in the 19th century, with rusticated stone voussoirs enhancing the elegant arch, and large buttresses providing a sense of strength. Barely discernible from the road, it is an aesthetically-pleasing structure which serves a physical reminder of the extent and importance of the railway network at the turn of the century.