Bridges, Moneyglass Demesne, Duneane Road, Toomebridge, Co Antrim, BT41 3PS

The Moneyglass Estate bridges and walled gardens form part of an extensive country estate landscape in Co Antrim. Although the country house itself was lost nearly a century ago, the collection of estate structures remains substantially intact, distinguished particularly by the vast scale of the walled gardens, which are quite scarce.

The estate garden features consist of two adjoining walled gardens and three bridges, all built before 1832 and remodelled around 1850. The grounds are accessed via a two-branched avenue leading from the southeast to a portico at the centre of the estate.

Bridge 1 is located at the eastern avenue branch. It is a single-span stone bridge aligned north-south, built around 1850, skewed to cross a stream. The west elevation displays random-coursed basalt spandrels and parapets with square piers at the corners and centre. The arch has blocked basalt voussoirs and the pier tops are finished with soldier-coursed rubble caps, though the parapet coping is missing. The soffit is of rubble. The east elevation was rebuilt in concrete following widening of the carriageway. Grass embankments flank the bridge to north and south.

Bridge 2 is located at the western avenue branch. It is also a single-span stone bridge aligned north-south, built around 1850, skewed to cross a stream. The walling is squared and snecked basalt to the spandrels and parapet. The arch has dressed voussoirs with rubble to the soffit. The parapet has square corner piers without caps; the northeast pier is missing. The east elevation arch has collapsed and lacks its parapet. The west elevation retains soldier-coursed rubble parapet coping. Grass embankments lie to both north and south.

Bridge 3 is located near the estate farmyard. It is a single-span stone bridge aligned east-west, built around 1850, crossing a stream. The walling is squared and snecked basalt to the spandrels and parapet. The arch is a round arch with dressed voussoirs and rubble to the soffit. The south elevation has soldier-coursed parapet coping. The north elevation abuts farmyard structures. Grass embankments flank the bridge to east and west.

The two vast walled gardens occupy approximately five acres and were originally formally arranged. Reputedly, the larger garden was an orchard and the smaller was laid out for vegetables. A brick-built ruined structure to the west of the second walled garden is reputedly the remains of an old laundry house.

Historical records establish that Lendrick's Map of 1782 identifies Moneyglass as the seat of Thomas M. Jones Esq. According to the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, the house was built in 1787 by Thomas Morres Jones Esq., replacing an earlier house where an earlier ancestor, William Morres Jones, dwelt as the first recorded occupant. The 1833 Ordnance Survey map shows a house, a walled garden, a small building on the present farmyard site, and a stable block with an extended east block to the northeast. By 1857, the house, farmyard complex, and stable court had been enlarged, and a stream had been dammed to create an ornamental lake. A quadrangle of four blocks was added to the east block of the stable court visible in 1833. The 1836 Townland Valuation records the estate as being owned by Major Kennedy.

An estate mausoleum to the Jones family was located to the east. It was ransacked in the early twentieth century for its rich lead-lined coffins and was subsequently demolished without trace in the mid-twentieth century. The human remains were later transferred to Duneane Presbyterian Church. Sir Charles Lanyon is recorded to have rebuilt the estate gate lodges in the mid-1850s and is likely to have worked on the house and estate buildings.

Although the bridges have been partially rebuilt, they retain their essential characteristics. The collection of estate structures, despite the loss of the country house, remains quite complete.