Corratavey Bridge, Ballypatrick Tl, Glenshesk, Ballymoney, Co.Antrim

Corratavey Bridge is a masonry road bridge of 1834 spanning a stream on the Cushendall to Ballycastle section of the A2 road in Ballypatrick, County Antrim. Constructed by Scottish engineer William Bald for the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, it forms part of the Antrim Coast Road scheme—the largest civil engineering project in Ireland of its time. The section of road containing this bridge was completed in autumn 1835.

The bridge is constructed of random rubble blackstone brought to courses, with sandstone dressings. The abutments are embellished with margined rock-faced sandstone quoins. Both faces feature out-curving tapered random rubble blackstone buttresses, also with margined rock-faced quoins. The arch is semicircular in profile and embellished with rock-faced, vee-jointed sandstone voussoirs, while its soffit is of squared random rubble. A D-profile sandstone string course runs across both faces at the base of the parapet, positioned just above arch crown level. The parapets consist of roughly-dressed random sandstone blocks with identical copings; the original rubble masonry copings survive at the northwest end, though those at the southeast end have been replaced with concrete. Short rubble masonry approach walls continue beyond the parapets at both ends.

Set into the middle of the downstream northeast parapet is an inscribed stone reading "Coretavy", with the stone below it inscribed "Villiam Bald Engineer"—the only bridge along the entire Antrim Coast Road bearing the engineer's name. The stonework above and below these inscriptions is slightly advanced to emphasise the legend, though the crispness of the letters suggests the stones may have been recut or replaced.

The stream has been modified where it flows under the arch. Its bed is now pitched with hexagonal basalt slabs to form a ford for vehicles, and the left bank has been built up to form a narrow footpath. Most of the flow is culverted underground and emerges from a circular concrete pipe in a waterfall downstream. A small modern information plaque is affixed to the downstream left-bank quoin.

The bridge lies on the main road southeast of Altheela Bridge within Ballypatrick Forest. The ford and footpath under the arch form part of the road network within the public forest park. Immediately upstream on the left bank is a grass and tarmaced area with picnic tables. Much of the original fabric remains unaltered and authentic. The bridge has group value with neighbouring bridges along this line of road: Craigacat Bridge, Altheela Bridge, Bush Burn Bridge, and Altadreen Bridge. The Antrim Coast Road and its associated bridges improved social and economic networking throughout the region, underlining the bridge's local importance and its significance as an example of industrial archaeological heritage.