Carrick Footbridge, Carrick East, Roe Valley Country Park, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 9HA

Light and delicate metal footbridge of the inverted bowstring type spanning a deep gorge of the River roe near Carrick Church (HB02/08/004). A path from the church descends 65 multiflight concrete steps to the bridge. 116 steps rise up from the bridge on the western bank on a path now part of the Roe Valley Country Park. The main span of the bridge is from the west bank where it is tied to the side, to a vertical support on top of a rock near the east bank. This span is 19.3 metres. A smaller span of eight metres is from this support to the east bank. The inverted bowstring design means that the supporting structure is under rather than above the timber deck. On each span a curved tie rod (dia. 50mm) forms a parabolic arch under the deck with vertical struts equally spaced between it and the deck. There are eight rods on the main truss and two on the smaller. The timber deck is flanked by L section angles 63 x 20mm which form the upper chord of the side trusses and support vertical balusters at 900mm centres. Underneath are angles (50 x 20mm) supporting the end and mid-point of the rotting timber planks. The handrail is made from a metal flat, curved on the top width 40mm. It is 1050mm above the deck. Between the balusters are diagonal side members and more recent wire mesh. The metal parts of the bridge are painted green. Its width is 750mm. There is a small twist over the length of the bridge measured by engineers as 160mm. Presently the timbers of the bridge are rotting and one is missing and another loose. The bridge can still be used with both hands firmly on the handrails and foot fall carefully chosen. However engineering reports do not recommend even this as the handrail has apparently been weakened by the detail chosen to fix it to each balustrade.