Altavaddy Bridge, Tollymore Park, Newcastle, Co Down

Altavaddy Bridge is a single-arched, rubble-built bridge within Tollymore Forest Park, County Down, probably dating from around 1780. It carries a gravel-surfaced drive over the Spinkwee River, and sits slightly north-west of the centre of the park. The arch is semicircular with dressed voussoirs. The parapets are low, with rough coping made up of vertically set stones.

The bridge appears on Ordnance Survey maps of 1834 and 1859, and is named 'Altavaddy Bridge' on the later of the two. It is believed to have been constructed during the 1780s, when the 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil was carrying out a programme of improvements to Tollymore Park. During that decade he added the Barbican gate at the eastern entrance, the gothick gate at the Bryansford entrance, a hermitage, gothick follies, a steward's lodge on the Hilltown Road, and several other bridges within the park, including Ivy Bridge, Parnell's Bridge, and Foley's Bridge — the last named after his wife, Grace Foley. These additions, along with extensive planting, were considered Thomas Wright influenced and made Tollymore one of the most admired estates in Ireland.

The history of Tollymore Park itself stretches back considerably further. In the late medieval period, the land was under the lordship of the Magennis family of Upper Iveagh. In 1611, Brian MacHugh Magennis received royal confirmation of his ownership when King James I granted him seven and a half townlands encompassing what is now the park. The estate remained in the Magennis male line until around 1685, when Bernard Magennis died childless and the property passed to his sister Ellen, who was married to William Hamilton. On Ellen's death the inheritance passed to their son James, and his son — also named James, who inherited in 1701 — was created Viscount Limerick in 1719 and Earl of Clanbrassil (of the second creation) in 1728.

This first James, popularly remembered by his earlier title of Lord Limerick, began developing Tollymore as a naturalistic landscape demesne around 1720. He enclosed much of the land to form a deer park, commenced large-scale tree planting, built a hunting lodge and the 'Old Bridge', and rebuilt the parish church at Bryansford — the small estate village to the north of the park, named after his ancestor Brian Magennis. Around 1750 he began construction of a larger house, probably with design input from his friend, the English architect Thomas Wright, who visited Ireland in 1746–47 and stayed at 'Tullymoor Park' in September 1746. Dr. Pococke, writing in his Tour of Ireland of 1752, noted that Lord Limerick had completed two rooms of his new 'pretty lodge' by that date and had also built 'a thatch'd open place to dine in' on the south side of the Shimna River. Just to the north of the house, the 'Clanbrassil' Barn was added in 1757, with the Horn Bridge built to the south around the same time.

Lord Limerick died in 1758 and was succeeded by his son, also named James, who extended the new house and continued his father's tree planting programme. It was this second James — the 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil — who is believed to have built Altavaddy Bridge as part of his 1780s improvements. Bernard Scalé's map of Tollymore from 1777 gives a sense of the park's picturesque character during this period, showing a rolling landscape with extensive planting, meadows, rivers, streams, and woodland walks. An advertisement in the Belfast News-Letter of 26 April 1785 offered lodgings in Bryansford village and made much of the 'most pleasing prospect of the Right Hon. Earl of Clanbrassil's much admired demesne, which is beautiful to the sight and extensive to the bounds', praising its wholesome air and the herbage on which the goats fed, which made it 'much frequented by ladies and gentlemen for the recovery of lost health'.

James, 2nd Viscount Limerick and 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, died without issue in 1798, and the park passed to his sister Anne, wife of Robert Jocelyn, 1st Earl of Roden. Their son Robert, 2nd Earl of Roden, inherited the estate in 1802 and built the Bryansford and Barbican gate lodges (the latter now demolished). He also erected an obelisk monument to the east of the house in memory of his second son James, who died prematurely in 1812. The 2nd Earl and his successor, the 3rd Earl, further developed Bryansford village, making it 'a pleasing place of residence for those persons that like a quiet retreat'. A Roman Catholic church was built at the eastern edge of the village in 1820, schoolhouses in 1823 and 1826, and labourers' dwellings and the large dower house known as 'The Nest' were added around the same time. The 3rd Earl also constructed a water-powered sawmill within the demesne and in 1865 added another small lodge to the east. He enlarged Tollymore House by adding an additional storey to the wings and a tall French château-style roof — considered somewhat incongruous — to the original central block.

Tollymore Park remained in Roden ownership until 1930, when the 8th Earl sold two thirds of the land to the Ministry of Agriculture for afforestation. The remaining third was purchased by the Ministry in 1940, and during the Second World War Tollymore House and part of the grounds were used by the Army. After the war the house fell into disrepair and was demolished by Lord Roden in 1952. In 1955 Tollymore became the first state forest to be designated a Forest Park and was opened to the public. It has since been developed for timber production, recreation, conservation, and education. Although the main house has gone, most of the park's 18th and early 19th century gates, bridges, and lodges have survived, Altavaddy Bridge among them.