Lough Eske Bridge

Five-arch bridge carrying road over the River Eske, built c.1800, having V-profile dressed ashlar cutwaters to piers. Segmental-headed arches having dressed ashlar voussoirs; rubble stone constructed arch barrels. Roughly squared and coursed rubble stone construction to spandrels, wing walls, and to parapets. Roughly dressed coping to parapets. Modern repairs to the parapets in places. Parapets/wing walls step out to the either end of the bridge. Tarmacadam deck with grass verge in places. Located to north-east of Donegal at the point where the River Eske flows out of Lough Eske.

This impressive bridge retains its early character and is an appealing feature in the rural landscape north-east of Donegal. The robust construction in good quality squared rubble stone is a testament to the skill of the masons involved in the project while the ashlar dressings demonstrate a sophisticated level of design not normally encountered in rural bridges. The wing walls stepping out at either end are a feature seen in a number of bridges in County Donegal. This bridge probably dates to the turn of the nineteenth century, a period which saw a great deal of bridge- and road -building in Ireland, particularly by the Grand Juries, and its design has been attributed to William Graham based on the Ordnance Survey Memoirs for County Donegal. It is possible, perhaps probable, given the quality of this bridge, that the construction of the bridge was originally funded or part funded by the Brooke family of nearby Lough Eske Castle (see 40909401).