Poland's Bridge, off Circular Road, Katesbridge, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32

Poland's Bridge is a mid-19th century twin-arched masonry road bridge over the River Bann, erected sometime between 1833 and 1859, probably in the 1850s by the County Down Grand Jury. Although situated on a minor road, it displays high-quality workmanship and is notable for its use of contrasting materials—granite and Silurian schist—combined with distinctive architectural embellishment.

The bridge's structural system comprises regularly-coursed dressed granite blocks forming the abutments and piers. Semicircular granite casewater piers at both ends of the central pier, constructed from vee-jointed blocks, rise to arch spring level and are embellished with string courses and domed caps. The two arches are of equal size with segmental profiles, their voussoirs of vee-jointed granite with random rubble soffits. Shallow vee-jointed ashlar granite pilasters delineate the arches and rise to parapet level. An ashlar granite string course with chamfered top runs horizontally across each face at arch crown level, with a second string course running along the base of each parapet, rising from northeast to southwest in line with the road gradient. The spandrels and parapets are constructed from random Silurian rubble, the spandrel stonework being of smaller dimensions than that of the parapets. The parapets are coped with oversailing chamfered granite blocks and terminate in outprojecting granite piers that form continuations of the pilasters up each face. The carriageway is one-and-a-half lanes wide.

The location holds historical significance: it replaced a ford called Poland's Steps, recorded on the 1833 Ordnance Survey map and described in the 1834 Ordnance Survey Memoir as a crossing point connecting two roads from Banbridge to Castlewellan that ran on either side of the Bann as far as Katesbridge. The bridge first appears captioned on the 1859 map and subsequent editions.

The setting remains substantially original. Timber stiles provide access to the river at the northeast end. Just beyond the southwest end stands a twin-arch stone and brick bridge over the former Banbridge-Newcastle railway. Along the road to the northeast is a single-arch bridge over a mill leat.