Glenties Bridge

Single-arched bridge carrying Main Street, Glenties, over the Stracashel River, built c. 1870 and possibly incorporating fabric of earlier bridge to site. Round-headed arch having squared and dressed sandstone voussoirs to arch; coursed rubble stone construction to arch barrel with cut stone stringcourse at arch springing point. Coursed rubble stone construction to spandrels and coursed rubble stone construction to parapets with cut stone coping over; roughcast rendered walls over smooth rendered plinth course to inner faces of parapets. Water pipe to the south-east elevation. Tarmacadam deck with brick footpaths to either side. Concrete memorial to the north-west parapet, commemorating Patrick McGill (1889-1963) -‘The Navvy Poet’ – comprising central polished marble plaque (on rectangular-plan) with inscribed text having flanking upturned console brackets, and with pediment over. Located to the centre of Glenties.

Although the parapets are modified, this simple single-arched bridge retains much of its early character, and is an appealing feature in the centre of Main Street, Glenties. It is robustly-constructed in local rubble stone masonry, and its continued survival and use stands as testament to the quality of its original construction, and of the skill of the masons involved. This bridge is distinguished by the good-quality dressed voussoirs to the arch and the cut stone stringcourse at arch springing point. This form of this bridge suggests that it dates to the mid-to-late nineteenth century, and replaced an earlier multiple (three?) arch bridge on the same site that was extant in c. 1837 (Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map). It is possible that this bridge contains some fabric from this earlier bridge, which was built on a narrower plan. This current bridge (and its predecessor) was probably built by the Grand Jury for County Donegal (the forerunners of the County Council). This bridge is further enlivened by the simple classical-style memorial monument to the north-west parapet, which could be considered a pared down modern version of the fine stone memorial plaque commemorating the author William Allingham (1824-89), dated 1895, which can be found at Ballyshannon Bridge (see 40852092 for monument. This monument at Glenties commemorates Patrick MacGill (1889-1963), a native of Glenties who was a noted journalist, poet and novelist known as the ‘Navvy Post’ as he worked as a navvy prior to his career as a writer. An annual literary summer school is held in his honour in Glenties each year. This bridge, which is almost obscured in the streetscape to the centre of Glenties, is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area, and forms part of the extensive transport heritage of Donegal.