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Bridge in Curragh

Bridge
Bridge in Curragh
Photo: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Road bridge over River Dalua, dated 1760, having six round arches, a seventh no longer visible, with cut limestone voussoirs, having raised keystones to north elevation. Walls and parapets of roughly coursed limestone and sandstone, parapets having cut tooled limestone coping. Ashlar limestone V-cutwaters to south…

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Road bridge over River Dalua, dated 1760, having six round arches, a seventh no longer visible, with cut limestone voussoirs, having raised keystones to north elevation. Walls and parapets of roughly coursed limestone and sandstone, parapets having cut tooled limestone coping. Ashlar limestone V-cutwaters to south elevation. Limestone plaques to both parapet walls, one including date for bridge, second adverting to costs of building bridges in Dublin and London and third bearing poem about river. Weir to north side of bridge. Bridge widened in mid-nineteenth century, formerly having had canopies pedestrian refuges to parapets.
The simple elegant form of this road bridge is much enhanced by the colour contrast between random rubble limestone and sandstone walls and finely executed cut limestone voussoirs, which adds textural interest to the site. This bridge is a reminder of the pride and craftsmanship employed in such endeavours in the mid-eighteenth century, and reflects the expansion in road building after 1750, brought about by an increase in trade and exports. The bridge was paid for by Richard Purcell of Kanturk and Arthur Bastable of Castlebretrige, Esq., and a highly unusual plaque compares the cost of construction to that of Westminster Bridge in London and Essex Bridge in Dublin and ends with a quote from Virgil. According to local folklore, there was once a prison cell, known as 'the black hole' in the western abutment, and naturally 'flushing' public toilets in each of the other abutments.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 20810010

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Photo credits
  • National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
  • The Speckled Bird, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Sitomon, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Jonathan Thacker, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
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