Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB11/15/008

Address :
Railway Bridge, Cranny, Omagh, Co.Tyrone

Townland:
Cranny/ Galbally

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
22/04/2011 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Bridge

Former Use
Bridge

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Yes

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OS Map No:
138-5

IG Ref:
H4740 7133

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Owner Category

Transport

Exterior Description And Setting

A three-span former railway-over-river bridge (now disused), built c.1850 and aligned north-south formerly carrying the Portadown, Dungannon & Omagh Railway over the Drumragh River. Abutments, spandrels and parapets are squared uncoursed rock-faced basalt; there are slightly projecting battered buttresses at either end. The parapet coping is roughly dressed limestone (largely intact with some loose stones). Carried on three equally sized round-headed arches with rock-faced voussoirs and shallow semi-circular upstream and downstream cutwaters; tooled stone soffits. Setting:- The railbed is raised on steep embankments beside the Drumragh River. Raking perpendicular retaining walls drop to river level at either end of the bridge. No sign of the track remains and the bridge now carries a disused grass track leading to open farmland. Walls:- Basalt

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The bridge is first shown on the second edition OS map of 1854; the railway is captioned the ‘Portadown, Dungannon & Omagh Railway’. McCutcheon writes that the “…’Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway Company’ was incorporated in 1845, [and] authorised to construct a single track line of railway extending southwards from a Londonderry terminus lying well to the south of the Great Northern Station in Foyle Street, a line which would have adhered more closely to the western bank of the Foyle, passed over onto the east bank from a point near Lifford, then over the canal, through Strabane, and then southwards towards Newtownstewart and Omagh’. (1980, p.109). However ‘due to the shortness of the line, storm damage and competition from the Strabane canal and Foyle navigation, this first section of the company line was not a great success. It was not until the construction of the line to Omagh in 1852…that the first benefits of the railway became apparent. (p.110). ‘Omagh and Strabane in particular emerged as major market centres from which goods and livestock could be conveyed northwards to the port of Londonderry…in 1861 Omagh was reached from the south east, across the watershed separating the Foyle and Bann catchment areas, and direct rail connection between Dublin, Belfast and Londonderry was now possible’(p.110). Mitchell writes that “in preparation for the Normandy landings, soldiers had to be taught to swim. A stretch of the Camowen River on Kyle’s farm at Lisahoppin above the railway bridge was used to teach them. Galvanised pipes were fitted to the bank and projected out it not the river so that the learners could hold on. Long after the war Omagh folk used ‘The Leap’ as a popular place to swim in the summer months as the home-made diving boards show” (Mitchell, p.99). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/6/35/1-First Edition OS Map (1833) 2. PRONI OS/6/6/35/2-Second Edition OS Map (1854) 3. PRONI OS/6/6/35/3-Third Edition OS Map (1905-6) Secondary Sources 1. McCutcheon, W. A. “The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland.” Belfast: Department of the Environment. H.M.S.O, 1980. 2. McKinley, Robert. “Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital: A Chronological History” in Haldane Mitchell, ed. Images of Omagh and District. Vol. 7. Omagh: Rotary Club of Omagh, 1999, pp64-83. 3. Mitchell, C. J. Haldane, Ed. Images of Omagh and District. Vol. 7. Omagh: Rotary Club of Omagh, 1999. 4. “Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway.” “Tyrone Constitution.” 14 February 1851. 5. “Tyrone Constitution.” 3 September 1847.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form F. Structural System J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three-span limestone former railway-over-river bridge (now disused), built c.1850. A substantial structure, exhibiting high quality masonry techniques and now carrying a disused track into open farmland. Along with the bridge on Donaghanie Road (HB11/15/012), it stands as one of the few remaining railway structures of merit along the former Portadown, Dungannon & Omagh Railway line, and is representative of the late nineteenth century infrastructural developments in County Tyrone.

General Comments

Date of Survey

13 February 2009