Roe Road Bridge, Bellarena, Limavady, Limavady, Co Londonderry

The Roe Road Bridge at Bellarena, near Limavady, was originally built in 1799 as a timber bridge spanning the River Roe, replacing an earlier timber structure lost to storms a few years prior. The initial design featured a timber deck supported by stone piers forming six openings or arches. Around the turn of the 20th century, the bridge had pointed cut waters and approximately 600 x 600mm square stone upstands above the carriageway, with decorative balustrading in an 'X' pattern between vertical supports. A storm in 1920 necessitated replacing the timber structure with a reinforced concrete bridge, designed by C L Boddie and utilising the Hennebique system, while retaining the original stone piers. The bridge was considered for listed status in 1992 but rejected as having limited aesthetic or historic merit in 1993. It was subsequently demolished in 1995 and replaced by a new concrete bridge situated slightly northwest of the original location. Remnants of the original approach roads and side walls remain on either side of the River Roe; on the Bellarena (northeast) bank, the road ends at a new concrete block wall approximately 4 metres from the river's edge, whereas on the Ballyhenry East bank, the original stone bridge stonework has been preserved and capped with a new concrete block wall. The structure possessed some industrial archaeological interest.