Railway bridge over canal, Station Rd, Moira, Craigavon, Co Armagh, BT67

This highly skewed brick and masonry bridge carries the double-track Lisburn-Lurgan section of the Belfast-Dublin railway over the former Lagan Canal just west of Moira Station. The abutments are of squared random rubble blackstone with ashlar sandstone quoins. A chamfered ashlar sandstone string course runs around the quoins and through the arch at spring level. The arch is of semi-elliptical profile with ashlar vee-jointed sandstone voussoirs. It measures 9.21m (30ft) perpendicularly across the abutments (10.90m on the skew) and is 41.5m (136ft) long. The soffit is of highly skewed machined brick. The spandrels are of ashlar sandstone. Tapered buttresses rise from each side of the arch. They are of vermiculated and margined sandstone blocks laid to courses. They extend above track level as ashlar terminal piers to two-bar metal railings (possibly replacements). An ashlar sandstone string course runs over the arch crown and around the base of the terminal piers. At each end of the bridge are curved wing walls of squared blackstone rubble with dressed sandstone copings. They terminate in square piers surmounted by pyramidal sandstone caps. The NW and SE wing walls are partly bridged by reinforced-concrete slabs to facilitate foot access along the track. Behind the NW wing wall is a squared random rubble bank retaining wall with vertical stone copings. A similar retaining wall extends beyond the SE wing wall. A 1.5m wide towpath runs through the bridge along its north abutment. Although long disused as a towpath it is still in use as a recreational footpath between Moira Station and Broadwater. A three-bar timber and metal safety railing now runs along its edge. It is faced with random rubble black stone edged with dressed stone blocks. There is a similar berm along the south abutment. In combination they restrict the width of the still-watered canal to 6.28m (20ft 6in) as it passes through the bridge. A sacrificial metal post is embedded in the towpath at each end of the bridge to protect the quoins from towrope damage.