Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/14/004

Address :
Cherryvalley Bridge [south of Newtownards Road] Comber Co Down BT23

Townland:
Cherryvalley

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Bridge

Former Use
Bridge

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Partially

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OS Map No:
148/11 SW

IG Ref:
J4673 6912

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Owner Category

Transport

Exterior Description And Setting

Disused railway bridge over a road on the western side of Comber. The bridge is built in snecked sandstone with a single semicircular arch with voussoirs and brick intrados with a ‘spring’ band. On each face of the bridge the arch is flanked with piers and outer curved retaining walls, but the N face is almost totally obscured by greenery. There is a course above the arch on the S face (an presumably on the N face also). The parapet to the S has lost much of its coping and has a modern concrete fence post places against it, whilst that to the N is smothered in greenery. The railway line itself has been removed and the track is now overgrown.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This bridge was constructed as part of the railway line (Belfast & Co. Down Railway) linking Belfast, Comber and Newtownards, which opened in May 1850. The line was abandoned in 1953. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI OS maps 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down 10 References- Secondary sources 1 E.M. Patterson 'The Belfast & County Down Railway' (Lingfield: Oakwood Press 1958). 2 E.R.R. Green 'The Industrial Archaeology of Co. Dow'n (HMSO 1963), p.62. 3 W.A. McCutcheon 'The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland' (HMSO 1980), pp.95-222.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Sandstone built railway bridge (over a road) of 1848-50, now abandoned, neglected and partly damaged, but seemingly still structurally sound.

General Comments

Date of Survey

10 June 1998