Articlave Bridge, Quilley Road, Articlave, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, BT51

Articlave Bridge carries the main Coleraine-Downhill road over the Articlave River a short distance east of the village of Articlave. It is a skew-arched stone and brick structure dating from the mid to later 19th century, probably between 1840 and 1859.

The bridge's abutments are constructed of squared rubble basalt, brought to courses with a slightly advanced course along the base. They are embellished with rusticated and margined quoins. Narrow tapered buttresses flank each side, similarly detailed with quoins. The arch itself has a segmental profile with matching rusticated and margined voussoirs, and its soffit is of skewly-laid brick. The spandrels match the abutment stonework. The parapet is of random rubble basalt, coped with rusticated and margined sandstone blocks. The deck carries two lanes of traffic and a footpath along its north side.

The approach walls are of random rubble basalt. The western approach is considerably longer than the eastern one and is buttressed along its north side. Approximately 20 metres west of the bridge, a gap through the north parapet provides access via an earthen ramp to the field on the left bank immediately north of the bridge, with the parapets making a downward quarter-turn on both sides of this gap. A wider opening on the opposite side of the road similarly provides a ramp down to the field on this side, though the parapet makes a downward turn on the river side of the gap only.

Just beyond these gaps in the parapets is a now-dry culvert which formerly carried a millrace headrace under the road to a flax mill some distance to the north on the left bank. The culvert's stonework is detailed as the main bridge, with a semicircular brick soffit. The two access ramps were necessary because the millrace cut off the fields between it and the river. Considerable ivy growth is present at the south-east end of the bridge.

The 1830 Ordnance Survey six-inch map shows an uncaptioned bridge at this location, along with a small mill race nearby. The 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir for Dunboe Parish records a triple-arched bridge with two arches of 16-foot span and a third of 7-foot span, crossing a 17-foot wide road. As the present bridge has only one arch and the road is approximately 32 feet wide, the original bridge must have been rebuilt along with the culvert carrying the millrace. The bridge is explicitly captioned as Articlave Bridge from the 1850 Ordnance Survey map onwards.

The bridge lies a short distance east of Articlave in open countryside with fields on all sides. It is of industrial archaeological interest.