Cromwell's Bridge, County Kerry

What is recorded here

Cromwell's Bridge in Gortamullin may owe its name to Irish words for ‘stooped and bald’, describing its hump and missing parapets. Three hundred years spanning a river, and the local reference is still: ‘You know your man with no hair and the bad back.’

Single-arch bridge over river, c.1700. Now disused. Sited spanning Finnihy River. NOTE: The bridge, originally named Finnihy Bridge after the river over which its crosses, is possibly the same 'high bridge & one arch' described (1758) by Richard Pococke (1704-65). The bridge is now known as Cromwell's Bridge and a nearby plaque suggests that the name "Cromwell" possibly derived from the Irish "croiméal", meaning moustache, or from an amalgam of the Irish "croim" and "maol", translating as stooped and bald, the latter term applied to bridges without parapets.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 21401006

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