Lawrencetown Bridge, (aka The Point Bridge), Point Road, Gilford, Co Down, BT63

Lawrencetown Bridge, also known as The Point Bridge, is a triple-arch masonry road bridge built around 1813 over the River Bann at Lawrencetown in Gilford, County Down. It is a good example of early 19th-century bridge design.

The bridge is constructed of random rubble blackstone with segmental arches. The central arch is slightly higher and wider than the flanking arches, though the deck itself is flat. The arch voussoirs are of dressed granite with raised keystones. Angled cutwaters at both ends of the piers are built of random granite blocks rising to arch spring level, then stepping back to the spandrels. The pier footings below the water line are encased in concrete to prevent scouring. The parapets are coped with dressed granite blocks. The south-west terminal pier is circular and capped with granite. The south-east parapet curves out to a gate screen at the avenue to a neighbouring house. The north ends of the parapets are square cut and have been truncated by the laying of a railway diagonally across the road at this end of the bridge.

The carriageway comprises a one-and-a-half lane road with a footpath along each side. The bridge survives in original condition and lacks ornamentation, representing the development of infrastructure in the area.

The remains of a railway bridge are also of note. A single-track railway bridge ran obliquely across the river immediately downstream of the road bridge. The north-west end of the road bridge is abutted by the pier of this railway bridge, constructed of random rock-faced blackstone blocks with margined quoins and chamfered granite copings. Between this abutment and the river is a slender pier, and on the opposite bank another abutment, all similarly detailed. The track has been removed and its line is now difficult to determine on the ground.

According to the 1834 Ordnance Survey Memoir, Lawrencetown Bridge was erected in 1813 at the country's expense at a cost of £650. The railway bridge dates from the 1860s onwards. The railway ran between Banbridge and Scarva, opened by the Banbridge Junction Railway in 1859 and subsequently taken over by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland). It closed in 1955 and the bridge and line were dismantled.

The bridge is located south of Lawrencetown in a semi-rural landscape with agricultural land to the south-east, St Patrick and St Colman's Church to the south, and a modern single-storey dwelling to the north.