Clady Bridge, Urney Road, Clady, Strabane, Co.Tyrone

Clady Bridge

Clady Bridge is a large nine-span road bridge built around 1700, carrying Urney Road over the River Finn on an east-west axis to County Donegal, located west of Clady village in the border landscape between County Tyrone and County Donegal.

The bridge is constructed of roughly coursed rubble, with abutments, spandrels and parapets of the same material. The parapet has rubble coping, partially repaired with ashlar stonework. Nine almost round-headed arches with rubble voussoirs span the river, with two flood arches to the west. The central arches have been repaired below the carriageway level. A striking feature is the continuous structure of large V-shaped rubble cutwaters projecting from the piers, which create pedestrian refuges on the otherwise narrow approximately 5-metre-wide carriageway. This innovative incorporation of cutwaters into the main bridge structure is a distinctive characteristic. The arch soffits have been sprayed with cement render. The parapet wall extends beyond the bridge to form a boundary wall to surrounding agricultural land for some distance east and west. The riverbank is bounded to either side by wire fencing.

The bridge is well proportioned and detailed despite some modern repair to the structure. Its archaic refuges, large intermediate piers and overall detailing make it a rare structure. The bridge is considered one of the most impressive examples of its type in Ulster, and its imposing scale makes it an important feature in the landscape.

The date of construction is uncertain, though the bridge is dated to around 1700 or possibly the seventeenth century. Historical sources provide supporting evidence for an earlier date. In 1689, the Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of James II, crossed the River Finn at this location with 300 men and 600 horses following a battle with the Ulster Protestant army. The Protestants had taken down an arch on the County Tyrone side to slow Berwick's progress; boards were placed over the collapsed arch to allow crossing, and King James II himself later journeyed over these boards. An earlier bridge is recorded on 15 April 1650 when Bishop Heber McMahon and the Catholic Army of the North crossed the River Finn at Cladyford (the former name of Clady) in pursuit of the Parliamentary army. Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) refers to a five-arched bridge at the site with historical associations with seventeenth-century wars and notes it was once a strong military post under the command of Colonel Skeffington. The discrepancy in arch count may be attributed to Lewis's omission of flood arches and later repair work.

The place name Clady derives from the Irish Claideach, which when used inland refers to the muddy bank of a sluggish river, reflecting the village's riverside location. The settlement has early origins; according to the Annals of the Four Masters, Clady was the location of a battle between Kinel Owen (O'Neills) and Kinel Conal (O'Donnells) in 784.

Vertical cracks were reported in the projecting cutwaters in 1983. Renovation work was carried out in late 1983, which involved laying concrete plinths to the piers and securing the bridge with tie rods.

The bridge first appears on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey Map of 1832-1833, captioned "Clady Bridge." Modern scholars rank it as one of the top ten bridges in Ulster, noting it is unique in predating by several years all comparable significant provincial bridges, with the bridge today remaining essentially as it was built at least 250 years ago.