Railway Bridge, Lambeg Road, Lambeg, Lisburn, Co Antrim

Railway Bridge, Lambeg Road

A skew arched stone bridge carrying the main Belfast-Dublin railway over Lambeg Road, located a short distance south of Lambeg Station. The bridge was constructed as part of the Ulster Railway's Belfast to Lisburn line, which opened in 1839. The line was built by William Dargan under the direction of John Godwin, with William Bald and Thomas Jackson Woodhouse (County Antrim's first County Surveyor) serving as consultants to the Ulster Railway Company.

The bridge is constructed principally of Triassic sandstone. The abutments and wing walls are of randomly sized sandstone blocks, while the remainder of the structure is entirely of ashlar. The arch spans a two-lane road without footpaths and is of three-centred (semi-elliptical) profile, featuring vee-jointed quoins and voussoirs that splay outward and serve double duty as spandrels. The soffit is of brick, laid in a helicoidal configuration to account for the skewness of the arch. A string course runs around the quoins and through the arch at spring level.

Headroom warning triangles marked 13ft 0in and 3.9m are affixed to the arch crowns on both faces. Alternate voussoirs are painted yellow and black to provide advance warning of the restricted headroom. Tapered buttresses run up each side of the arch. Above the arch is a shallow platband, over which runs a projecting string course; both courses continue around the tops of the buttresses. The parapet is coped with sandstone and terminates in advanced rectangular piers, also capped with sandstone. A modern two-bar galvanized metal handrail surmounts the parapet. Curved wing walls at both ends of both faces are constructed of random Triassic sandstone blocks and were subsequently heightened in brick.

The bridge is of considerable historical and technical significance. The high quality of its stonework reflects the solidity and expense the Ulster Railway Company wished to project to the public. The skew brick arch is of particular technical interest. The bridge is one of the earliest railway bridges in Ulster and a well-known landmark in the area, serving as a visible reminder of the railway's illustrious history.

The original line between Belfast and Lisburn opened in 1839, making it the first railway in Ulster and the second in Ireland after the Dublin-Kingstown railway of 1834. The line was initially laid as single track at 6ft 2in gauge. Following the change to standard gauge of 5ft 3in throughout Ireland in 1846, it was re-laid as two lines both to the new gauge. The depths of all bridges along the line, including this one, had been designed to allow for such doubling of the track. The line was extended to Armagh in 1848 and to Dublin via Portadown in 1852. In 1876, the Ulster Railway Company amalgamated with other railway enterprises to form the Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland). The Ulster Transport Authority took over operations in 1958, followed by the Northern Ireland Railway Company in 1968. Translink is currently responsible for the line's operation.

The bridge possesses group value with other neighbouring bridges on the same railway line.