Kilclean Bridge, Barleyhill Road, Castlederg, Co Tyrone

This is a two-span road bridge dating from the mid-nineteenth century, built between 1840 and 1859. It carries the Barleyhill Road over the Back Burn, aligned west-east, and is notable for its good proportions and fine stone detailing. The bridge represents improvements to local infrastructure during the mid-nineteenth century and remains in use, demonstrating the skill of nineteenth-century engineers. It has an unspoiled rural setting alongside hedgerows and grassed verges, with a ford adjacent to the bridge.

The bridge is constructed of roughly coursed squared sandstone to the abutments, spandrels, and parapets, with tooled sandstone coping shaped over elegant curved parapet ends. It features two shallow segmental arches with dressed sandstone voussoirs, flanked by dressed stone bullnosed cutwaters on both sides. The soffits are squared stone, and the bridge carries a single-lane tarmac carriageway.

A bridge is depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, crossing a small, uncaptioned river. The bridge is named ‘Kilclean Bridge’ on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1855. The current structure appears to be a mid-nineteenth-century replacement. The bridge is of industrial archaeological interest and possesses architectural merit for its style, proportions, ornamentation, plan form, structural system, and setting and also has local historical interest.