Pettigoe Bridge

Five-arched bridge carrying road over the Termon River, built c. 1770, having cut stone/ashlar triangular-profile cutwater to piers to both elevations (north and south) with domed caps over. Constructed of irregularly-coursed squared rubble stone masonry to spandrels, piers and to parapets. Wrought-iron tie bars with cast-iron pattrice plates. Roughly dressed stone coping to parapets with cement repairs in places. Round-headed arches having dressed voussoirs and with rubble stone construction to the arch barrels. Tarmacadam deck Located to the east/south-east of Pettigoe town centre. Bridge spans the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

This impressive bridge retains its early character and form, and is an appealing feature in the streetscape of the town of Pettigoe. It is robustly-constructed in good quality squared 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. The dressed voussoirs and the V-shaped cutwaters demonstrate a sophisticated level of design and engineering. This bridge probably originally dates to the late-eighteenth century, a period that saw a great deal of road and bridge-building in Ireland, particularly by the Grand Juries (the forerunners of the County Councils). It is possible that its construction was funded or partially funded by the Leslie family, the proprietors of the town during the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. This bridge may have replaced an earlier bridge at Pettigoe (indicated on Moll’s map of Ireland dated 1714) or may incorporate fabric from this earlier edifice. This fine edifice is one of a number of impressive bridges over the Termon River at Pettigoe, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area. This bridge spans the border between counties Donegal and Fermanagh, and thus the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.