Tyrconnell Bridge

Four-span road bridge over River Eske and road, dated 1895. Constructed of welded sheet steel girders forming deck and having steel/iron panels to parapets. Deck rests on battered squared coursed rock-faced masonry piers with pointed breakwater buttresses to base. Piers rise over steel parapets having cut stone coping over. Abutments to either side/end (north-east and south-west) constructed of squared coursed rock-faced masonry having cut stone coping over. Projecting cut stone stringcourse at deck level to piers and to abutments to either end. Staircase flanked by rubble stone wall to north end of west side of bridge. Bridge spans River Eske and New Row Road. Cut stone date plaque to pier to east side reading ‘The Tyrconnell Bridge; Built 1895; W.J. Glen C.E. Contractor’. Located to the north-west of Donegal Town centre, a short distance from the Diamond.

This fine late nineteenth-century bridge survives in good condition, and is an integral element of the engineering heritage of County Donegal. Its construction using steel girders forming the deck resting on robust rock-faced masonry piers is of technical merit and it represents one of the few examples of a bridge of this type in Donegal. Its form and construction (steel deck and rock-faced masonry construction to the piers and abutments) is reminiscent of a number of railway bridges built throughout Ireland during the late-nineteenth century. The stringcourse to the abutments and piers adds an subdued element of decoration to and otherwise robust and functional structure. It was built by W.J. Glen, Engineer. This bridge is a landmark structure in Donegal Town, and remains an important transport feature in Donegal Town, linking Diamond with Tyrconnell Road to the north. It may have replaced an earlier bridge to the same site.

Its construction using steel girders forming the deck resting on robust rock-faced masonry piers is of technical merit and it represents one of the few examples of a bridge of this type in Donegal.