Glencloy Bridge, Bay Road, Carnlough, Ballymena, Co Antrim

Glencloy Bridge is a twin-arched masonry bridge dating from 1852, built to replace an earlier bridge destroyed by flood in 1851. Designed by Charles Lanyon, County Surveyor for Antrim, it is constructed of squared basalt rubble with pink sandstone used for the voussoirs of the segmental arches, the weatherings to the cutwaters, the platband at carriageway level, and the copings to the parapets. The parapets return square at the ends, with the coping rising to accommodate the increased width. The carriageway is flat and flanked by a footpath on the east side. The bridge stands in a rural area outside the village of Carnlough, set within grassy fields and rough ground. The approach road at the south end has been widened to include a car parking lay-by, and a new rubble stone retaining wall now abuts the bridge at right angles on the east side. On the west side, a concrete retaining wall has replaced part of the original stone revetments along the river bank to the north end. It is considered to be an example of early Victorian bridge engineering, robust and handsome in appearance, although its original setting has been altered. Records show a predecessor bridge on an Ordnance Survey map from 1832.