Road over rail bridge, Trummery Lane, Moira, Craigavon, Co Armagh, BT67

Road over Rail Bridge, Trummery Lane, Moira

This skew single-arch bridge carries a one-and-a-half lane minor road over the double-track Lisburn-Lurgan section of the Belfast-Dublin railway, just north of the Lisburn-Moira road. It dates from the inception of this section of the Ulster Railway and is of architectural and local historical interest as an unaltered example of early railway bridge design.

The bridge spans the railway line, which runs through a cutting at this point. The abutments are of ashlar sandstone with minor repairs in red brick where weathered. A chamfered ashlar sandstone string course runs around the quoins and through the arch at spring level. The arch is of segmental profile with vee-jointed ashlar sandstone voussoirs that splay out to form spandrels. The soffit is of skew set brickwork. The splayed voussoirs are reminiscent of some bridges on the Belfast-Lisburn line, but the use of brick rather than sandstone in the soffit marks a notable contrast.

Tapered projecting buttresses of rusticated and margined sandstone blocks in regular courses flank each side of the bridge. These buttresses extend to the tops of the parapets and are capped with shallow pyramidal sandstone blocks. Wing walls set out from the face of the bridge, beginning just beyond the buttresses, are constructed of random rubble blackstone. The parapets are of dressed sandstone blocks with replacement brickwork along the top where weathered, topped with finely dressed sandstone copings. The copings step up in two places in line with the rising road gradient from south to north. Out-projecting terminal piers mark each end. A brick string course runs along the base of each parapet and around the buttress extensions.

At the north-east end, a curved approach wall of more modern brickwork with concrete coping probably represents a relatively modern replacement of the original sandstone wall. A high random rubble blackstone wall retains the bank at the south-east end. A modern galvanised metal staircase provides access down the bank to the track at the south-west.

The bridge lies on the Lisburn-Lurgan section of the Belfast-Dublin railway. The Belfast-Lisburn section was opened by the Ulster Railway Company in August 1839 and had been extended to Lurgan by November 1841. The line was constructed by William Dargan under the direction of the company's Resident Engineer John Godwin. The line was initially laid as a 6 feet 2 inches gauge single track. Following standardisation of Ireland's railways in 1846, the line was relaid to 5 feet 3 inches gauge and doubled; this work was completed by late 1847. The bridge was designed anticipating such doubling, so no structural alterations were required when the work was carried out. The bridge is depicted on the 1858 Ordnance Survey six-inch map and subsequent editions. In 1876, the Ulster Railway Company became part of the Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland). The Ulster Transport Authority took over operations in 1958, and the Northern Ireland Railway Company in 1968. Translink is now responsible for the line's operation, though maintenance of the bridge rests with DRD Roads Service. The bridge has group value with other listed bridges on this railway line.