Bann Bridge, Bridge St., Coleraine, Co.Londonderry

Bann Bridge is a triple-arch masonry road bridge spanning the River Bann at Coleraine, opened in 1844. It is considered one of the finest bridges in Ulster for its proportions, materials, embellishment, and high standard of execution.

The bridge is constructed of ashlar granite imported from Scotland, except for its soffit. It features three equi-sized shallow segmental arches with vee-jointed voussoirs. The soffits, which appear to be of sandstone based on their lighter colour, are dressed to a high standard. Advanced abutments and piers have curved and domed cutwaters rising to spring level at both ends. The middle span is the navigable one, with an air draft of 1.5 metres at high tide and 4.2 metres at low tide; arrow signs point to it on both faces of the bridge.

Mounded string courses run through the arches at spring level and around the tops of the piers. The parapets are slightly advanced above each pier and end in out-projecting terminal piers, with a moulded string course running along the base of each parapet. Raised and fielded rectangular panels on the parapets' outside faces directly above each arch crown are mostly blank, except for the middle arch. The downstream panel reads "Designed by Stewart Gordon C.E." and the upstream panel reads "Erected by the County 1844". Four cast-iron lamp standards (electrified) run along each parapet, directly above the abutments and piers. The deck carries two lines of traffic and two footpaths.

The bridge was designed by Stewart Gordon, County Surveyor for County Londonderry (1834–60), and erected by John Lynn, a Coleraine-based contractor, at a cost of £14,650 met by the County Londonderry Grand Jury. Its construction required raising the levels of the approach roads at each end.

The site has a long history of river crossings. The first bridge at this location dates from 1248 and was built by John de Courcy in the shadow of Coleraine Castle. It was destroyed and rebuilt at least once. Raven's map of 1620 depicts a timber bridge. A replacement of 1716 collapsed in 1739. With funding from the Irish Society, a more substantial replacement was erected around 1743, shown on Taylor & Skinner's 1783 map. According to the 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir, the mid-18th century bridge comprised six horizontal timber spans over masonry piers and abutments, with four-foot-wide cantilevered footpaths added along both sides in 1806. The present bridge replaced this structure in 1844.

During the Second World War, a prepared demolition chamber was inserted for explosives so that the bridge could be blown up in the event of enemy invasion. No evident traces of this chamber remain. Until the opening of Sandelford Bridge upstream in 1975, Bann Bridge was the only crossing over the river in the Coleraine area. The Millennium Footbridge was opened just downstream in 2001.

The bridge has considerable interest to the riverscape. Until 2002, it marked the dividing line between the remits of Waterways Ireland (upstream) and the Coleraine Harbour Commissions (downstream). Rivers Agency signs are affixed to each downstream pier.

The setting includes small public parks at the southeast and southwest ends of the bridge. Just northwest is a modern mooring pontoon belonging to Coleraine Harbour Commissioners and the Clothworker's Building. To the northeast is a car park belonging to Dunnes Stores, formerly part of Coleraine Harbour but now totally relandscaped. The northeast approach wall to the road bridge was removed to facilitate access to the east end of the Millennium Footbridge.