Bell's Bridge, Mountjoy Road, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, BT78

Bell's Bridge

Bell's Bridge is a five-span stone road bridge built between 1883 and 1886, carrying Mountjoy Road over the Strule River on a north-south axis. It represents a substantial example of late-nineteenth-century masonry bridge construction and serves as the major crossing point to Omagh town centre.

The bridge's structural system consists of segmental arches with dressed sandstone voussoirs sprung from V-shaped cutwaters. The piers are of squared and dressed stone, with squared rubble spandrels and parapets finished with cement-rendered saddleback coping. The soffits are cement-rendered. The bridge carries a tarmac double carriageway flanked by widened granite pedestrian pavements. Cast-iron lamp stands with foundry marks reading "D. W. Windsor - Moddesson, Herts, England" are mounted over each cutwater.

The bridge's name has two competing origins. Local tradition connects it to the bell towers of St. Columba Church of Ireland Church and Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, both visible from the carriageway. However, historical records indicate the bridge was named after James Bell, a local baker and grocer whose premises was located opposite Strain's Bar on Bridge Street. James Bell is listed in 1882 as a grocer, baker, coal and manure merchant at 34 Bridge Street. He later acquired land behind the Model School (built 1859) where he established the first Model Bakery. The Calvin family managed the bakery from the early 1900s until after the First World War, when William McLetchie took over; it remained in operation until its closure on 28 February 1976. Dr. E. C. Thompson was known to have recommended Bell's bread to his patients.

The bridge is positioned between the modern pedestrian bridge of the Strule Arts Centre to the west and the modern Strule Bridge to the east. The south embankment features a river-level pedestrian pavement and a substantial stone wall at carriageway level to the southwest. Strain's Bar, a two-storey building over a raised basement, stands to the southeast. Grassy embankments border the northeast side. The bridge is shown on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1905-6.