Salt Bridge

Single-arch road bridge over canal, completed 1853. Tuck pointed rock faced limestone ashlar walls between drag edged rock faced limestone ashlar piers with rock faced cut-limestone stringcourses supporting benchmark-inscribed parapets having lichen-covered rock faced cut-limestone coping. Single elliptical arch with drag edged rock faced limestone ashlar crow stepped voussoirs centred on drag edged rock faced cut-limestone keystones. Site spanning Bridgetown Canal with gorse-covered embankments to canal.

A bridge representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century civil engineering heritage of south County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one erected in connection with land reclamation works organised by John Henry Raymond Rowe DL (1809-74) of Ballycross House (see 15704731), confirmed not only by the robust rock faced surface finish demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also by the elegant "sweep" of the arch making a pleasing visual statement at a crossing over the Bridgetown Canal (cf. 15704645; 15704714; 15705202): meanwhile, a benchmark remains of additional interest for the connections with cartography and the preparation of maps by the Ordnance Survey (established 1824).