Railway Bridge, Whitehouse Park, Shore Road, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim

This is a double-arched stone bridge, constructed circa 1850, that serves as a significant piece of 19th-century infrastructure and an entrance to Whitehouse Park. The bridge crosses a road (Whitehouse Park Road) and a river (the Whitehouse River, or Glas-na-Cradan) alongside the Belfast to Carrickfergus railway line, all on a north/south axis.

The bridge is built with coursed, squared, and tooled basalt walls, topped with tooled sandstone ashlar coping and steel railings. Curved embankment walls on either side descend at a 45-degree angle and have sandstone coping. The pair of round arches feature rock-faced sandstone ashlar voussoirs with tooled margins, terminating at an impost course (the north impost course is obscured by a footpath). Rough-hewn coursed sandstone lines the archivolts. A Bitmac road passes through the north arch, accompanied by a Bitmac footpath and concrete kerbing on the north side.

The railway line and bridge appeared on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857. Griffith’s Valuation of 1859 identified the railway owner as the ‘Belfast and Northern Counties Railway’, with Charles Stuart as secretary. Historical records indicate that prospects were issued in April 1836 for a north-eastern railway from Belfast to Ballymena, planned to run along the Whitehouse shore. Stations were established along the line by 1847. Concerns about the condition of Whiteabbey Station prompted authorization for a new station at a cost of £300 in 1863.

The bridge is situated near the coast in a suburban area, with the roadway through the north arch following the shoreline of the estuary to the west. Its architectural interest lies in its style, proportions, and structural system, as well as its contribution to the local setting and group value. It has local historical significance.