Glencush Bridge, Ballyheather Road, Strabane, Co.Tyrone, BT82

Glencush Bridge

A substantial four-span road bridge built around 1840, carrying Ballyheather Road over Burn Dennet in rural agricultural land between the townlands of Brosney and Glencush.

The bridge is constructed with roughly coursed rubble abutments, spandrels and parapets, detailed with a sandstone string course at arch spring and carriageway level, and a segmental sandstone coping to the parapet. The four elliptical-headed arches are built with ashlar local sandstone voussoirs and keystones, with the westernmost arch functioning as a flood arch. The arch soffits are cement rendered. V-shaped sandstone cutwaters to the piers are partially repaired. The carriageway is approximately 6 metres wide. Parapet walls splay to east and west of the carriageway, terminating at each end in square piers with sandstone coping. The bridge is sited within agricultural land; the riverbank is bounded either side by wire fencing, with a farm to the north-west.

The tender for "building a bridge of three 21 feet arches over the River Burndennett, between the townlands of Brosney and Glencush on the road from Londonderry and Dunnemana" was advertised by the County Tyrone Grand Jury in mid-May 1840. Work probably commenced later that year. The engineer and architect responsible for the original design was James Barry Farrell, County Surveyor for Tyrone. He left this post in August 1840, and it is possible that the bridge as constructed—with four arches instead of the three originally specified—resulted from modifications made by his successor, Mr Richardson. The bridge was shown on the 1854 Ordnance Survey six-inch county map as "Stranabrosny Bridge", a name borrowed from the townland to the western side of the river. It retained this designation on subsequent maps until at least 1951, but appears as "Glencush Bridge" from 1971 onwards. An inscribed panel on the northern parapet, seemingly original to 1840-41, bears the name Glencush Bridge, suggesting this has always been its official designation.

The bridge is an important example of mid-nineteenth century engineering work and makes a positive contribution to its unspoiled rural setting.