Bridge, Ballypatrick/, Ballyvennaught Tl, Ballycastle, Co.Antrim

A three-arched masonry road bridge erected over the Carey River in 1852, located in the townland of Ballypatrick near Ballycastle, County Antrim. The bridge carries a minor road that formerly connected two earlier parallel routes between Cushendall and Ballycastle, running via Cushleake Mountain and Clady Burn respectively, before the main road between these towns was constructed in the 1830s and 1840s.

The bridge is constructed throughout of roughly-squared sandstone rubble with angled cutwaters extending to arch spring level on both faces. Its three equi-sized arches are of segmental profile with dressed sandstone voussoirs, although their soffits are of random rubble except for a section of the left-bank arch which has been repaired in concrete. A dressed sandstone string course runs across both faces just above arch crown level. The parapets are coped with irregular sandstone stones alternately laid on their flats and edges, terminating in out-projecting piers which continue down both faces as buttresses. These piers are capped with sandstone flags of diminishing size. The right-bank arch is dry in normal circumstances.

The bridge's sturdy style and proportions, together with its lack of ornamentation, are typical of mid-19th century minor bridges, though the irregular parapet copings contrast with the dressed sandstone blockwork commonly found on other bridges in this region. The quality of construction suggests this is a rebuild, possibly of an earlier timber original.

The bridge was designed by Charles Lanyon, County Surveyor at the time. Its date is confirmed by an advertisement placed by the County Antrim Grand Jury in the Belfast News-Letter in June 1852, calling for the construction of "a bridge on the road from Ballycastle to Cushendall, between the post road at Ballypatrick and the Ballyvanaght road, in the townland of Ballypatrick at Lord Antrim's mill. Not to exceed £200."

The abutments and piers are now footed in concrete to minimise undercutting, and the river bed has been concreted below the middle and left-bank arch to minimise scouring. A small weir across the river immediately downstream slows the water as it passes under the bridge. A pipe is carried across the upstream face. The original fabric is otherwise as built.

The bridge is surrounded by fields on all sides. A short distance upstream on the left bank are the ruinous remains of water-powered corn and flax mills, which are of industrial archaeological interest.