Bridge, Giant's Causeway Tramway, Runkerry Beach, Bushmills, Co. Antrim

A stone and brick single-arch railway bridge built in 1887 for the Giant's Causeway Tramway. The bridge carries a single line of operational 3-foot gauge track over a stream through the sand dunes at Runkerry Beach, between Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway.

The abutments are constructed of quarried random rubble basalt brought to courses and embellished with rock-faced basalt quoins. The arch spans 8 feet (2.46 metres) and is approximately 45 feet (14 metres) deep. Its voussoirs and soffit comprise four courses of red brick, which contrast strikingly with the random rubble basalt spandrels coped with a single course of partly-dressed stones. The bridge originally had no parapets, although a modern wooden picket fence now runs along its east side. The new line of track crosses the bridge towards its west (seaward) side, with a gravel public footpath at the east. The bed of the stream has been consolidated as part of the line's refurbishment works, with the flow now confined to a cement-lined channel within the arch that discharges over a approximately 3-foot high weir on exiting the bridge.

The Giant's Causeway Tramway was opened as a tourist attraction between Portrush and Bushmills in January 1883 by the Giant's Causeway, Portrush & Bush Valley Railway & Tramway Co, instigated by William Traill. The 3-foot gauge, 6¾ mile long tramway holds the distinction of being the first in the world to be powered by hydro-electricity, generated at Walkmills on the River Bush, just south of Bushmills. A 2½ mile extension to the Giant's Causeway was opened in 1887, the same year this bridge was built, with two bridges along its course: this one over a stream and the Victoria Jubilee Bridge over the Bush (a three-span girder bridge). The line eventually closed in 1949 after 66 years of service. It was reopened as a tourist attraction in 2002 by the Giants Causeway & Bushmills Railway Company Ltd, a not-for-profit organisation, which involved refurbishment of this bridge and renewal of the girder spans of the Jubilee Bridge.

This bridge is of considerable historic importance as the only original bridge remaining on the entire route of the Portrush-Bushmills tramway. Its fabric is entirely authentic. Though not large, it exemplifies sound masonry bridge construction incorporating a brick arch, where the red brick creates striking visual contrast with the black basalt from which the rest of it is constructed.

The bridge lies in the Bushfoot sand dunes just above the beach, with Runkerry House visible to the north at the end of the strand.