Bridge over River Bann, Lisdrumgullion Rd, Hilltown, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5XA

This is a modern, triple-span steel girder bridge carrying a minor road over the River Bann. Constructed between 1980 and 1999, it replaced an earlier girder bridge, with a plaque marking the 1896 reconstruction of a wooden bridge. The bridge features finely dressed granite abutments and piers with curved ends, topped with cast concrete. It rests on four longitudinal rolled steel joists (RSJs, with one cantilevered out on each side), supporting a reinforced concrete deck slab. A vertically railed metal parapet completes the structure. A small metal plate is let into the masonry wing wall on the upstream left side, reading “H McG/ 1896”. The deck itself is of reinforced concrete, cast in situ using curved corrugated iron as formwork for its underside, a construction method similar to that found on a nearby footbridge. The bridge’s design illustrates contemporary bridge construction and modernization techniques. A ford was present at this location in 1834, replaced by a footbridge in 1859, and a more substantial road bridge by 1901. Records indicate a contract awarded in 1895 to Hugh McGreevy for the wooden bridge reconstruction, and further payments in 1896 for tarring the bridge’s surface. The bridge exhibits some industrial archaeological interest.