Kilmakee Railway Bridge, Dunmurry, Lisburn, Co Antrim

Kilmakee Railway Bridge

An arched stone bridge carrying the main Belfast-Dublin railway line over what was once a field accommodation road, located a short distance east of Rathmoyne House on the west side of the Lisburn Road near Dunmurry.

The bridge is constructed primarily of ashlar Triassic sandstone. The abutments and wing walls are of squared random blackstone brought to courses. The arch itself has a semicircular profile with vee-jointed voussoirs, the outer edges of which are curved to follow the arch line. The soffit is finished in ashlar sandstone. Tapered buttresses run up each side of the arch, with a string course running over the crown and continuing around the tops of the buttresses. Above the string course sits a parapet coped with sandstone and terminating in advanced rectangular piers, also capped with sandstone. A single-bar galvanised metal handrail now surmounts the parapet. Curved wing walls at each end are constructed of squared random blackstone brought to courses and coped with concrete blocks, which are doubtless replacements of the original sandstone copings. The south-east elevation is partly buried under landfill used to close the former road, whilst the north-west face is heavily overgrown.

The high quality of the ashlar stonework reflects the solidity and 'no expense spared' image the Ulster Railway Company wished to project to the public. This attention to quality is particularly notable given that this is merely an accommodation bridge, away from general public view.

The railway between Belfast and Lisburn was opened by the Ulster Railway Company in 1839, making it the first railway in Ulster and the second in Ireland after the Dublin-Kingstown line of 1834. The line was extended to Armagh in 1848 and to Dublin via Portadown in 1852. The line was constructed by William Dargan, known as the father of Irish railways, under the direction of John Godwin, who later became Professor of Engineering at Queen's College, Belfast. The consultants to the Ulster Railway Company were William Bald, who built the Antrim Coast Road, and Thomas Jackson Woodhouse, County Antrim's first County Surveyor.

Originally the line was single track at 6ft 2in gauge. Following the change to 5ft 3in gauge throughout Ireland in 1846, it was re-laid as two lines, both to the new standard gauge. The doubling of track had been allowed for in the construction depths of all bridges along the line, including this one. In 1876 the Ulster Railway Company amalgamated with various 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 now responsible for the line's operation. The accommodation track was closed when the DeLorean car factory was built on the west side of the railway line.

The bridge is of historical interest as one of the earliest railway bridges in Ulster and has group value with other railway bridges on this line.