Bridge, Tollymore Park, Newcastle, Co Down

A small, rubble-built bridge of around the 1840s, located in the north-western corner of Tollymore Park, County Down. It carries a gravel-surfaced forest track over a stream that flows into the Shimna River.

The bridge has a single span formed by a small semicircular arch with rough stone voussoirs. Its most distinctive feature is its parapets, which are semicircular in plan and also built of rubble stonework. Both parapets are topped with rough stones placed upright at regular intervals, giving them a characteristically spiky appearance.

Although a bridge is shown on this site on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, the shape recorded on the 1859 revision matches the form of the structure as it stands today, suggesting the present bridge dates from the mid-19th century.

The bridge sits within the wider designed landscape of Tollymore Park, whose history stretches back several centuries. In the late medieval period the land formed part of the lordship of the Magennis family of Upper Iveagh. In 1611, Brian MacHugh Magennis received a royal grant of seven and a half townlands from King James I. 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. Their son James inherited, and his son — also James — was created Viscount Limerick in 1719 and Earl of Clanbrassil (of the second creation) in 1728.

This James, widely remembered by his earlier title of Lord Limerick, began transforming Tollymore into a naturalistic landscape demesne around 1720. He enclosed much of the land to form a deer park, undertook large-scale tree planting, built a hunting lodge and the structure known as 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 constructing a larger house, probably with design input from his friend, the English architect Thomas Wright, who visited Ireland in 1746–47 and stayed at Tollymore Park in September 1746. Dr Pococke, writing in his Tour of Ireland of 1752, noted that Lord Limerick had by then completed two rooms of his new house and had also built a thatched open dining place on the south side of the Shimna River. The Clanbrassil Barn was added just to the north of the house 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 house and continued his father's planting programme. During the 1780s he erected the Barbican Gate at the eastern entrance to the park, the gothick gate at the Bryansford entrance, a hermitage, gothick follies, a steward's lodge on the Hilltown Road, and several bridges within the park — including Ivy Bridge, Parnell's Bridge, and Foley's Bridge, the last named after his wife Grace Foley. These additions, which also appear to reflect the influence of Thomas Wright, together with the extensive planting, made Tollymore one of the most admired estates in Ireland. Bernard Scalé's map of Tollymore of 1777 conveys something of the park's picturesque character during this period, depicting a rolling landscape with much planting, meadows, rivers, streams and woodland walks. An advertisement in the Belfast News-Letter of 26 April 1785 offering lodgings in Bryansford made much of the prospect of the Earl of Clanbrassil's demesne, praising its beauty and extent, and noting that the wholesome air and the herbage on which the local goats fed made it much frequented by ladies and gentlemen seeking recovery of their health.

James, 2nd Viscount Limerick and 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, died without issue in 1798. 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, though the latter has since been 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, Robert the 3rd Earl, further developed Bryansford village, making it, in contemporary accounts, a pleasant place for those seeking a quiet retreat. A Roman Catholic church was built at the eastern edge of the village in 1820, school houses in 1823 and 1826, and labourers' dwellings and a large dower house known as The Nest were added around the same time.

The 3rd Earl constructed a water-powered saw mill within the demesne and in 1865 added a small lodge to the east. He also enlarged Tollymore House itself 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 solely in the possession of the Roden family 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 in Ireland to be designated a Forest Park and was opened to the public. It has since continued to be 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.