Former railway bridge, off Cotton Road, Cotton, Donaghadee, Co Down is a listed building in the Ards and North Down local planning authority area, Northern Ireland.
Former railway bridge, off Cotton Road, Cotton, Donaghadee, Co Down
- WRENN ID
- muffled-gable-rowan
- Grade
- Local Planning Authority
- Ards and North Down
- Constituency
- North Down MP: Alex Easton (Ind)
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Irish grid reference
- J 546 789
- Coordinates
- 54.63484, -5.60645
- Source
- NI Environment Agency listing
Description
The structure is a disused, rubble-constructed single span bridge dating from approximately 1859-60. It was originally built to carry a road over the Belfast & Co Down Railway, specifically the section between Newtownards and Donaghadee. The road has since been redirected slightly to the west of the bridge, meaning it now serves no function and stands on the edge of a field. The bridge is located a few metres south of Cotton Road, approximately 1.5 miles west of Donaghadee.
The bridge is primarily constructed of rock-faced fieldstone rubble, featuring a single elliptical arch. The arch’s voussoirs and quoins are rock-faced, v-jointed sandstone, with a brick lining to the intrados. Splayed, triangular buttresses are positioned on either side of the arch. Sandstone string courses are present at arch springing level and just above the arch. Sandstone coping defines the parapet. The eastern face of the bridge is heavily overgrown with vegetation.
The bridge was constructed between October 1859 and June 1861 as part of the Belfast & Co Down Railway’s new line, and was likely designed by the railway’s chief engineer, Sir John MacNeill, and built by his principal contractor, Patrick Moore. The railway line closed in 1950. The structure possesses industrial archaeological interest.
Local climate
Former railway bridge, off Cotton Road, Cotton, Donaghadee, Co Down sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,130 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 88% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 94% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 1 freeze-thaw cycle a year, fewer than 99% of listed buildings. Of these, 1 follows at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- No flood data for this area
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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