Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/16/004

Address :
Road and rail bridge, Comber Road, Ballygowan, Co. Down BT23 6HA

Townland:
Ballygowan

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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:
No

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OS Map No:
167/9

IG Ref:
J4312 6376

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Owner Category

Central Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

Road (and formerly rail) bridge, carrying the Comber Road over the Ballygowan River at an angle, just where the road culminates in a roundabout at the centre of the village of Ballygowan. The N face of the bridge is in semi-coursed basalt with two semicircular arches with sandstone voussoirs. This face is now largely obscured by greenery. Recent stone built parapet to N side which now also acts as the rear wall for a small war memorial. The S face of the bridge is of recent construction with a square arch formed in concrete and parapet as before. The road is covered in tarmac and the railway track has been removed.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This bridge was probably constructed 1856-7 to carry the new BCDR railway line between Comber and Downpatrick (officially opened in March 1859) and the recently redirected Comber Road. The bridge is indicated on the OS map of 1858. With the closing of the railway in 1950 the bridge became the sole preserve of the road which itself appears to have been widened with the insertion of the roundabout to the west side [?c.1970]. Presumably this entailed the rebuilding of the south face of the bridge. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60 Down 16. 2 EHS OS map 167-9 (1:2500) 1973. Secondary sources 1 W.A. McCutcheon ‘The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland’ (HMSO 1980), pp.157, 175. 2 Desmond Coakham ‘Belfast & County Down Railway’ (Leicester 1998), p.41.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Road (and formerly rail) bridge over the Ballygowan River, partly original to the north side but rebuilt in recent times to the south.

General Comments

Date of Survey

19 January 1999