Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB20/04/024

Address :
Railway Viaduct Randalstown Antrim Co Antrim

Townland:
Randalstown / Shane's Castle Park

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
20/09/1974 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Viaduct

Former Use
Viaduct

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
95/7

IG Ref:
J0839 9028

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

An eight-arched masonry viaduct of slightly skewed form, built to carry the Antrim to Cookstown railway over the River Main at the east end of Randalstown, but now closed to railway traffic although open to pedestrians. It comprises the central six arches spanning the river, with the ones at either end spanning a mill race and a road respectively. Built of snecked rock faced basalt rubble with margined voussoirs of rhyolite to semi-circular arches, and a large roll moulding of rhyolite projecting at carriageway level. Piers are slightly battered and are faced on the north, or upstream side, by low angled cutwaters; piers surmounted at the springing of the arches by a projecting square impost course; intrados of each arch vaulted with skewed brickwork; main parapets have rusticated sandstone copings, flat topped. Abutments of similar walling with similar parapets break forward to form double piers on each face, of battered form. Curved raking retaining walls of basalt rubble with rock copings to both north and south sides of abutment at west end, the one to the north terminating with a break in plane where it meets a low boundary retaining wall. At the east end the bridge continues over the main road as a single skew girder span, a later replacement for the original removed sometime after the line closure in 1959, to an abutment of similar construction to previous, which terminates at a main road with the carriageway truncated. Carriageway has had track removed with main span later landscaped with grassed strip and footpaths. New flat girder with steel trellis-work parapets of segmental arched profile surmounted by antique-style cast iron lamp standards. Abutment on eastern side of main road beyond girder bridge has a tarmac path with grass verges and modern ranch-style timber fencing; angled raking retaining walls to both north and south of this abutment, of snecked basalt rubble with basalt rock copings, the one to the south terminating at a short pier where it meets low boundary walling of basalt rubble to the grassy embankments which curves on round to the east, and contains a modern gate and a new gateway. SETTING: The viaduct stands adjacent to the built-up area of the town, to the south of the road bridge, running at an angle to the very much lower road bridge and crossing over it with its flat girder. Banks to each side are thick with trees and bushes. The viaduct is the most conspicuous structure in the town, dominating the riverscape and thus forming an important landmark. It is approached from the east by an open gateway leading to an inclined path up to the northern abutment and new girder bridge, and also approached from the west by a new open gateway at New Street leading on to a path laid along the former railway track.

Architects

Lanyon, Charles

Historical Information

Built in 1855 for the Belfast and Ballymena Railway Company as a railway viaduct to carry an extension to Cookstown from the branch line at Randalstown, over the River Main; architect and engineer, Charles Lanyon; contractor, William Dargan. Opened by the Earl of Carlisle; the line on which it lies operated from 1856 to 1959; original girder bridge with level parapets over the main road subsequently removed. The Belfast and Ballymena Company was renamed the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway in 1860, and was later absorbed into the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1903. The viaduct came into the possession of Shane's Castle estate following the closure of the line. Converted into a walkway and cycle path leading from Station Road to New Street in the late 1990s with the reinstatement of a girder bridge, with segmental arched parapets, over the road. References – Primary Sources 1. OS Map 1858, Co Antrim 43. Secondary Sources 1. UAHS, Antrim and Ballymena (Belfast, 1969), p 27. 2. J.R.L. Currie, The Northern Counties Railway, Vol I (Newton Abbot, 1973), pp 44, 51, 55. 3. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland (HMSO, Belfast, 1980), pp 122, 172, and plate 38.3. 4. M. Barry, Across Deep Waters: Bridges of Ireland (Dublin, 1985), p 45. 5. C.E.B. Brett, Buildings of County Antrim (UAHS, Belfast, 1996), p 277. 6. DOE Planning Service, Randalstown Conservation Area booklet (Ballymena, 1996), p 2 (illustrates an old photograph of the viaduct taken from the south). 7. IHR 2195:50.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest V. Authorship Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This is a very fine example of early Victorian bridge engineering, well proportioned and handsome in appearance, designed by an important Irish engineer and architect, Charles Lanyon. As a comparatively rare example of a railway viaduct it provides an impressive and durable reminder of the railway age, which enjoys a pleasant riverside setting, and together with the adjacent road bridge forms an interesting group.

General Comments

Date of Survey

04 November 2000