Wire Rope Tramway, Carr’s Face, Bloody Bridge River, Nr Newcastle, Co Down

The remains of a wire rope tramway are located at Carr’s Face, near Newcastle, County Down. This is the only surviving wire-rope tramway in the Mournes and possibly the only one in Northern Ireland, representing an unusual landscape feature with local interest reflecting the area’s historical granite industry.

The tramway runs along an incline from a granite quarry on the northern slopes of Chimney Rock Mountain down to the Bloody Bridge River, with a height difference of approximately 120 metres. The system survives as a series of wooden sleepers, and sections retain the original single-track line, including one passing place with three parallel lines. The lower terminus is now unclear, but the upper end finishes at a winding drum, alongside the remains of a tripod crane. Above, an extensive quarry is visible, where large slabs of granite were once extracted.

The quarry and tramway were operated by Robinson’s of Annalong, likely beginning in the 1920s, though not marked on the 1938 Ordnance Survey map. According to historical records, the feasibility of quarrying and lines like this was linked to the introduction of lorries capable of transporting the stone. The granite was taken down to the roadside at Bloody Bridge where it was manually dressed into setts and kerbstones. A similar tramway once connected Thomas's Mountain to Newcastle Harbour, but no traces of that system remain. The tramway is currently recorded as derelict and possesses industrial archaeological interest.