Railway Bridge, Churchill Road, Katesbridge, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32

This twin-arch stone-and-brick bridge carries an accommodation road over the former Banbridge – Castlewellan Railway. Although it has two arches, only one was actually used as the line was single track. Apart from the arch, the bridge is of roughly-dressed rubble blackstone throughout. The abutments and piers are embellished with rusticated, margined quoins. The arches are of segmental profile and comprise three header courses of brick. The parapets are coped with out-projecting rock-faced granite blocks, the tops of which are flat with margined edges. There is a similarly detailed string course around the bases of the parapets’ out-projecting terminal piers; the latter have chamfered granite copings. Angled wing walls retain the artificially-raised road embankment and continue up to merge with the parapet’s end piers. These walls are coped with rock-faced blackstone blocks; those to the north-west wing are missing. The carriageway carries a single-track road and has a slight hump. Corrugated metal sheeting has been affixed to the W face of each arch to enclose the spaces within. The former track beds within the arches have also been floored with concrete to form rudimentary animal pens, complete with drinking troughs across their east ends. The NE end of the bridge is obscured by ivy. Beyond the bridge, the railway track bed has been reclaimed for agricultural use and is no longer apparent. Setting Rural setting. Historic farm buildings and modern bungalow to the north.