Bridge in Ranaghan

Single-arch hump-backed railway bridge, built c. 1856, carrying small road over former railway line (Inny Junction to Cavan line). Railway line now dismantled, arch now used as storage area. Gently curved elliptical-headed arch. Deck supported on brick jack vaults resting on six steel girders. Roughly dressed snecked rock-faced limestone masonry walls, battered to base. Arch flanked to either side (east and west) by projecting limestone piers. Chamfered dressed limestone string course at road level, continuing across projecting piers. Dressed limestone coping to parapet (with chamfered edge to outer faces), pyramidal-shaped dressed limestone capstones over projecting piers. Bridge flanked to either side by squared rubble limestone wing walls. Located to the southeast of Abbeylara, and to the south of Ballywillin Railway Station (13401105).

This robustly detailed bridge forms an integral part of the railway and civil engineering heritage of County Longford. The construction in rock-faced limestone with ashlar detailing produces an appealing textured visual effect. The use of rock-faced limestone accentuates its imposing form, and its construction is typical of mid-to-late nineteenth-century railway engineering/architecture in Ireland. The dressings are finely carved and are clearly the work of skilled craftsmen. It was originally built by The Midland and Great Western Railway Company to serve the Inny Junction to Cavan Line, which opened in 1856. This line closed to passenger traffic in 1947 and was subsequently completely closed by CIE in 1960.