Craigavon Bridge, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry

Craigavon Bridge is a two-tier metal-girder bridge crossing the River Foyle at Londonderry, designed by Mott, Hay & Anderson and completed in 1933. Both decks now carry road and pedestrian traffic, though the lower deck was originally built for railway use.

Lower Deck

The lower deck comprises 12 spans: five wide spans across the middle of the river, each 130 feet (40 metres) long, with seven narrower spans—four at the northwest end and three at the southeast. All span ends rest on piled cylindrical metal piers, with upstream columns braced to their downstream counterparts using horizontal and diagonal struts. Neither abutment was observable during survey, but both are probably 1930s mass concrete replacements of the 1860s masonry originals.

Each of the five principal spans comprises a pair of Pratt steel girder trusses, fabricated from riveted steel plates and angle bars and supported by the cylindrical piers. The railway originally ran through these trusses; the road does so now. The seven narrower end sections comprise simple cross-braced girder spans. The bottom chords of all spans are cross-braced to one another with riveted steel transoms which also support the deck. Some stanchions are embossed "Lanarkshire Steel Co Ld. Scotland. British steel". The two-lane deck's exact composition could not be determined, but is probably tarmacked reinforced concrete.

Two small roundabouts occupy the deck's southeast end, with roads running north and south to connect with the high-level road onto the upper deck. At the northwest end is a traffic-light-controlled T-junction with Foyle Road.

A large-diameter cast-metal pipe, probably for water, runs across the upstream face of the bridge. It rests on top of the piled columns and is also clamped to the underside of a cantilevered beam affixed to the girders' bottom chords. A smaller pipe runs above it, resting on brackets affixed to the outside of the girders' stanchions. A four-bar steel railing along this side is affixed to a metal beam across the top of the girders' bottom chords.

On the downstream side, a footpath is cantilevered out from the bridge's bottom chord, with a vertical steel railing along each side. At its southeast end, a two-stage steel stairway provides pedestrian access to the upper deck. Two large-diameter pipes, possibly for water, are affixed to the inside face of the girders' stanchions and run between the road and footpath. A three-bar steel railing protects these pipes from accidental traffic impacts.

Upper Deck

The upper deck carries four lanes of road traffic and appears to be of tarmacked concrete. It rests on a riveted steel sub-frame comprising transoms running between the top chords of the lower deck girders. Secondary supporting beams run longitudinally between the main transoms, with yet smaller transoms between those.

The deck extends beyond each end of the lower deck, these extensions being supported on riveted steel transoms carried on multiple sets of vertical H-beams. The space underneath the southeast end has been partitioned off by a cement-rendered screen wall to form a yard. Although access to the yard was not possible at the time of survey, the ends of the deck beams appear to rest on a steel transom across the top of a masonry abutment of finely dressed granite blocks laid to regular courses.

The space underneath the northwest end has also been screened off by a wall creating an enclosed space. This screen continues northwards and forms the frontage to a single-storey building bearing the legend 'Londonderry Corporation Electricity Supply 1920'. The south end of the wall continues as a dressed granite block wall with roll-moulded coping which wraps around the corner. A cast bronze plaque is affixed to this section:

"City and County Borough of Londonderry / Craigavon Bridge Lower Deck Reconstruction / This scheme was opened on July 3rd 1968 / by his worship the Mayor of Londonderry. / Councillor W. Beatty BA JP / Chairman of Committee Councillor - J.A. Canning / Town Clerk - R.H. Thompson FCA / City Engineer and Surveyor - J.C. Mackinder OBE, ERD, C Eng, M I Mun E / Consulting Engineers - Mott, Hay and Anderson / Main Contractor - Sir Lindsay Parkinson and Company Limited."

The southwest elevation of the screen wall is of random rubble sandstone to its lower half and dressed granite blocks to its upper half, with moulded granite coping. Brick-trimmed windows with concrete sills line this wall, all now infilled. The actual bridge abutment lies somewhere behind this wall and was not accessible.

A footpath is cantilevered along each side of the upper deck, with pipes and cables underneath. Metal downpipes carry rainwater off the upper deck and through the lower one to discharge into the river. The footpaths are separated from the carriageway by single-bar tubular railings set into cast metal posts atop dwarf concrete walls. Their parapets are of latticed metal bars with a continuous metal handrail, braced externally with curved steel brackets. The parapets are punctuated at regular intervals by cast-metal piers supporting three-light lamp standards in Art Deco style. The inside faces of these piers have hinged metal doors giving access to the internal electrics. The doors are embossed with the city's coat of arms and motto "Vita, Veritas, Victoria" (Life, Truth, Victory). All these lamps are now defunct, having been superseded by larger two-light steel lamp standards along the outside edges of the footpaths.

Southeast End

The southeast end of the deck spans the roundabouts at this end of the lower deck and terminates in a traffic-light-controlled crossroads from which Duke Street runs northeast, Spencer Road continues ahead, and Victoria Road runs southwest.

The upstream railing at this end terminates in a dressed granite pier which originally also carried an Art Deco lamp standard. On its inside (road) face is a polished pink granite plaque detailing the toll-free status of the previous Carlisle Bridge in 1878:

"Carlisle Bridge / declared toll free by / Sir Sydney H Waterlow BART MP / Governor of the Honourable the Irish Society / on the first day of January, 1878, a moiety of the cost / of freeing the bridge from toll having been paid / by that honourable body, and the other moiety by the / ratepayers of the following electoral divisions: / City and Suburbs, Waterside, Lower Liberties, Upper Liberties, Clondermott / Lough Enagh, Ardmore, Bond's Glen, Claudy, Eglinton and Tamnamore in / the Union of Londonderry, Faughanvale in the Union of Limavady, all in / the Co of Londonderry; Dunnalong, Ballymagorry, Ballyneanor, Mountcastle / and Donemanagh, in the Union of Strabane and County of Tyrone. / Samuel Maxwell Alexander JP DL Chairman of Bridge Commissioners. / Henry Darcus JP Mayor Derry".

Immediately below it is a cast bronze plaque:

"This tablet / records the freeing from toll of the upper roadway of / Carlisle Bridge / pursuant to the provisions of 40 & 41 VUC Chap CXCVI / and was removed from Carlisle Bridge and placed in this position / with the approval of the Honourable the Irish Society / AD 1933. / Alderman Sir Charles A. Ratho BT - Governor of the Society / Leslie C. Landragin - Secretary of the Society"

The parapet originally continued southeast as finely dressed granite stone wall but has since been replaced with vertical steel railing. The downstream parapet was similar, but both these ends have been replaced with vertical steel railing, probably when this end of the bridge was reconfigured for new road approaches during the lower deck's conversion from rail to road.

Northwest End

The northwest end of the deck spans Foyle Road (it originally also spanned the Great Northern Railway) and ends in a roundabout from which John Street runs northeast and Abercorn Road runs west.

This end of the upstream parapet terminates in a finely dressed granite pier atop the aforementioned granite screen wall. It too carries an Art Deco lamp standard. On its road face is a cast-bronze plaque:

"City of Londonderry / Craigavon Bridge / This bridge is named after / the Right Hon the Viscount Craigavon DL MP / First Prime Minister of Northern Ireland / and Freeman of the City / in recognition of his services to Londonderry. / Senator Sir Dudley E.B. McCorkell MBE, JP, DL Mayor of Londonderry / Alderman Captain J.M. Wilson MC JP Chairman of Bridge Committee / Sir F. Henry Miller, Town Clerk. / Constructed AD 1931-1933."

A dressed granite parapet runs from the northwest end of this pier, curving around the corner of the screen wall below to terminate in a pier at the extreme northwest end of the bridge. It has an intermediate pier; all three have roll-moulded tops and blind square recesses to their outside faces. The parapet is cut by two wrought-iron gates which once gave access to reinforced-concrete footbridges over the laneway below leading to the now-demolished Tillie & Henderson shirt factory which once stood at this end of the bridge.

A cast bronze plaque on the inside face of the northwest terminal pier acknowledges the contribution of the City Engineer to the original Craigavon Bridge:

"City of Londonderry / Craigavon Bridge / This tablet is erected to the memory of / M.A. Robinson M Inst CE / City Engineer 1909-1929 / to whose foresight was largely due / the successful initiation of the project / resulting in the construction of this bridge."

A number of modern steel posts have been erected on the footpath at this end to carry decorative hanging baskets. The northwest end of the downstream parapet has been replaced with vertical steel railing.

Materials and Setting

The spans are of steel, the deck of reinforced concrete and tarmac. Railings and lamp standards are of cast metal. Walls are of granite block, random rubble sandstone, and concrete.

Craigavon Bridge crosses the River Foyle in Derry City, linking the Waterside on the east bank with the Cityside on the west bank.