Railway Viaduct, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim

Railway Viaduct, Randalstown

This is a very fine example of early Victorian bridge engineering, well proportioned and handsome in appearance, designed by the 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, set in a pleasant riverside location. Together with the adjacent road bridge it forms an interesting architectural group.

The viaduct was built in 1855 for the Belfast and Ballymena Railway Company to carry an extension to Cookstown from the branch line at Randalstown over the River Main. It was designed by Charles Lanyon and constructed by the contractor William Dargan. The line opened in 1856 and operated until 1959. 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. Following closure of the line, the viaduct came into the possession of Shane's Castle estate.

The structure is an eight-arched masonry viaduct of slightly skewed form. The central six arches span the river, while the arches at either end span a mill race and a road respectively. It is built of snecked rock faced basalt rubble with margined voussoirs of rhyolite to semi-circular arches, and features a large roll moulding of rhyolite projecting at carriageway level. The piers are slightly battered and faced on the north, or upstream side, by low angled cutwaters. Piers are surmounted at the springing of the arches by a projecting square impost course. The intrados of each arch is vaulted with skewed brickwork. Main parapets have rusticated sandstone copings, flat topped.

The abutments are of similar walling with similar parapets, breaking forward to form double piers on each face of battered form. Curved raking retaining walls of basalt rubble with rock copings flank both the north and south sides of the abutment at the west end; the one to the north terminates 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. This modern span features a flat girder with steel trellis-work parapets of segmental arched profile surmounted by antique-style cast iron lamp standards. The abutment on the eastern side of the main road beyond the girder bridge terminates at the main road with the carriageway truncated. Angled raking retaining walls of snecked basalt rubble with basalt rock copings flank both the north and south sides of this abutment.

The carriageway has had track removed and the main span has been later landscaped with a grassed strip and footpaths. The viaduct was converted into a walkway and cycle path in the late 1990s, with reinstatement of a girder bridge with segmental arched parapets over the road, leading from Station Road to New Street.

The viaduct stands adjacent to the built-up area of the town, to the south of the road bridge. Banks to each side are thick with trees and bushes. The viaduct is the most conspicuous structure in the town, dominating the riverscape and 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 from the west by a new open gateway at New Street leading onto a path laid along the former railway track.