Carson's Bridge

Single-arch humpback canal bridge, built c.1838, to carry road over Ulster Canal. Now disused as canal or road bridge. Round arch with tooled sndstone voussoirs. Roughly coursed, snecked, squared sandstone to spandrel and parapet walls. Tooled stone platbands and coping to parapet walls. Square-plan engaged piers terminating parapet walls. Gunnelled squared stone to voussoirs. Towpath, with tooled stone coping, running to north abutment. Squared roughly-coursed stone walls, having tooled stone coping, to approach to bridge.

The Ulster Canal, linking Lough Neagh with Upper Lough Erne, reached Monaghan in 1838. It was intended to aid economic growth and prosperity, providing a means of goods and passenger transport in the area. The arch shape to this bridge represents its later date of construction, as earlier canal bridges predominantly employed the three-centred arch. Skilled craftsmanship and engineering is evident in this bridge, which is enlivened by tooled stone platbands and voussoirs. Although it is no longer in use and a new road has been built to the east, this bridge was an important piece of infrastructure and would originally have constituted an attractive historic landmark, and is reminiscent of the industrial heritage of County Monaghan.