Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/02/009

Address :
King's Bridge Stranmillis/Annadale Embankment Belfast

Townland:
Ballynafoy/ Malone Lower

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Survey 2:
A

Date of Listing:
26/05/1995 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:
No

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OS Map No:
147/05NE

IG Ref:
J3399 7186

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Owner Category

Central Govt

Exterior Description And Setting

A four-span road bridge across the River Lagan, of reinforced-concrete throughout. Each of its piers comprises two uprights with angled cutwater ends. These uprights probably form part of a submerged A-frame rather than separate piles. Across the top of each pair of uprights is a triangulated concrete frame which carries three continuous longitudinal beams. There is also a longitudinal beam along each side, on which the parapet is built and which is supported on vertical columns at the outside ends of the piers; these uprights are embellished with semicircular headed recesses on their outside faces. The three inside beams support smaller multiple beams running transversely between the side beams. It is on these transverse beams that the deck slab has been cast. The two middle spans are slightly wider than the end ones and the latter are slightly inclined upwards from the bank towards the middle. A large cast-metal pipe (?water) is slung from the underside of the deck. According to Cox and Gould, the overall span of the bridge is 195ft and its width is 30ft. The two middle spans are 50ft long and their supporting longitudinal beams are of 51in x 13in cross-section. The outer spans are 40ft long and rest on three beams of 42in x 12in section. The parapets have shallow rectangular panel recesses along their outer faces. They are punctuated by intermediate parapet piers which rise from the piers below. The parapet piers (10 in all including the end ones) each carry a cast-iron lamp standard, on the base of which is their maker’s details: D.W. Windsor, Ware, Herts, England. The lamps are electrified but no longer in use. Modern lights have also been attached along the underneath edges of the deck to illuminate the bridge at night. The carriageway carries two lanes of one-way traffic and a footpath along each side. There are traffic lights at both ends and a 7.5 tonne weight limit sign at its NW end. The ends of the bridge parapets continue as quarter-circle concrete bank-retaining walls. On the road side, these walls project just above footpath level and carry cast-iron posts which formerly supported two horizontal tubular steel railings. These have been replaced with vertical steel railings.

Architects

Trussed Steel Co (Westminster)

Historical Information

This bridge opened in 1912 and is named after King George V (crowned in 1910). It was built for Belfast Corporation by contractors W.J. Campbell & Son to connect Ridgeway St, on the Co Antrim side of the river with Sunnyside St on the Co Down side. The Stranmillis and Annadale Embankments, on the Antrim and Down sides respectively, were built afterwards (in 1920s). The bridge was designed by the Trussed Concrete Steel Company of Westminster. In the early 1900s, the use of reinforced concrete was still in its infancy. This particular example employed the Kahn system of reinforcement, patented in America in 1903. It comprises steel bars of diamond cross-section with horizontal strips on diagonally opposite corners which are slit and bent upwards in order to bind the concrete more effectively together under compression and tension. Cox and Gould state that it had been intended to align the bridge on a skew with the river (i.e. in line with the roads on either side), but that the Belfast Harbour Commissioners (who had jurisdiction of the tidal stretch of the Lagan) had insisted on it being set at right angles to lessen its impedance to barge traffic en route to and from the Lagan Navigation to Lisburn and Lough Neagh. The bridge is captioned as King’s Bridge on the 1919/20 OS maps and subsequent editions. Originally it carried two-way traffic. Since the opening of Governor’s Bridge, a short distance upstream, in the 1970s, the traffic is now one-way, from NW to SE. References - Primary sources: 1. Irish Builder, 17/02/1912, p.101. 2. The Engineer, 9/5/1913 (vol.115), pp 493-494. 3. PRONI OS/10/3/4/15/4. Second edition OS 25-inch map, Co Down sheet 4-15 (1919). 4. PRONI OS/10/1/61/13/2. Second edition OS 25-inch map, Co Antrim sheet 61-13 (1920). References – Secondary sources: 1. P. Larmour, The Architectural Heritage of Malone and Stranmillis, p.160 (Belfast: UAHS, 1991). 2. NIEA first survey card (1993). 3. M. Gould, King’s Bridge Belfast, in Ulster Architect, vol.11 (7), p.53 (1994) 4. R.C. Cox & M.H. Gould, Civil Engineering Heritage: Ireland, pp 137-138 (London: Thomas Telford, 1998). 5. C. Rynne, Industrial Ireland, 1750-1930: an Archaeology, pp 335-336 (Cork: Collins Press, 2006). 6. Information supplied by Dr Michael Gould, former Reader in Civil Engineering, Queen's University, Belfast.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance Z. Rarity V. Authorship W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

A four-span reinforced-concrete road bridge over the River Lagan dating from 1912 and built according to the patented American Kahn system of concrete reinforcement. The utilitarian nature of this structure is reflected in its clean architectural lines which are typical of many concrete bridges of early/mid 20th century date. Cox and Gould note that this is the earliest attested multi-span Kahn-type bridge in Britain and Ireland. The Trussed Concrete Steel Co was the British agent of this patented American system metal reinforcement. Although a number of buildings and single-span Kahn bridges had already been designed by this company, the significance of King’s Bridge, from a civil engineering perspective, is that it is the first multi-span example in which the beams are continuous, i.e. it is not a series of single-span bridges set end to end. Moreover, according to Dr Gould, there are no other identifiable Kahn bridges in Northern Ireland (if, indeed, anywhere in Ireland). Cox and Gould note only one earlier reinforced-concrete bridge in Northern Ireland – a small single-span road bridge of 1909 at Drumlone, near Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh (HB12/05/047). This was reinforced according to the Hennebique patented system, for which L.G. Mouchel & Partners of Westminster held the British licence. Elsewhere in Ireland, there are only two earlier examples of concrete bridges (neither of them Kahn) – a footbridge at Mizen Head, Co Cork (1909), and another footbridge at Cruit Island, Co Donegal (1911). For such an innovatory design, the fact that King’s Bridge has survived in such good condition for a century is all the more remarkable. Few concrete bridges were built before the First World War, so this is also a rare surviving example from this era.

General Comments

Date of Survey

10 May 2011