The N bridge, at Favor Royal House, Favour Royal Road, Augher, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, BT77 OEW

The North Bridge at Favour Royal House

This well-constructed stone bridge carries the northern driveway from Favour Royal House over the Blackwater River. Dating from between 1840 and 1859, it is a single-span bridge built in coursed rubble stone with dressed voussoirs forming a segmental arch. The parapet features a battlemented rubble coping. The bridge is notably larger than the West bridge also on the estate, though similar in style.

The bridge holds significant group value as part of the Favour Royal Demesne, a complex of listed structures that includes the main house (a Tudor Manorial style building constructed in 1825), the West bridge, main gates, lodge, garden cottage, walled garden, outer yard, pigsty, and weigh house. The demesne is bounded to the north by the Blackwater River, to the east by Derrymeen Road, to the south by the border with County Monaghan, to the west by the Church of St. Mary's Portclare, and to the northwest by Favour Royal Road.

Historical Development

The estate originates from a grant made by King James I to Sir Thomas Ridgeway of 740 acres in 1613. Sir James Erskine subsequently purchased the Augher estates from Ridgeway. King Charles II confirmed the Manor of Portclare (called Favor Royal) to the Erskine family in 1665. The estate was eventually divided between two granddaughters of the Erskine line; one portion became Spur Royal (Augher Castle) and the other remained Favour Royal.

One of Erskine's granddaughters married John Moutray, and together they built the first house and established the demesne in 1670. This original house stood until it was destroyed by accidental fire in 1823. Captain John Corry Moutray, then the occupant, commissioned architect John Hargrave to design the replacement house, completed in 1825. The estate records show the property was occupied by Whitney Moutray in 1858, Rev. John James Moutray in 1870, and Major Anketell Gerald Moutray during the first half of the twentieth century. The house and its contents were sold in 1976; by 1979 the occupier was a Mr Craig.

The Moutray family were the largest landowners in the valley, holding leases on 36 townlands and employing a staff of 80 people at their peak. The Moutray family papers held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland provide extensive documentation of the estate's management, including land leases and personal diaries.

The bridge first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1856, though the 1834 first edition shows the demesne and most of its other features already in place. This indicates the bridge and associated northern driveway were added during the mid-nineteenth century, likely in connection with the reconstructed house.