Bridge, Ballycullane, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Bridges & Crossings
A small humpback bridge over the Ballycullane Stream in County Kerry rewards close attention in a way that its modest scale might not immediately suggest.
The riverbed beneath its arches and continuing downstream has been deliberately paved with stone, a detail easy to overlook from above but indicative of the practical care that went into its construction. This kind of bed paving was laid to resist scour, the erosive force of water channelled under a bridge, and it speaks to builders who understood what moving water could quietly do to a foundation over time.
The bridge is built of random rubble sandstone and carries a road running roughly north to south, spanning just under five and a half metres in width. Its two segmental arches, each with a span of approximately two and three quarter metres, are formed with roughly shaped voussoirs, the wedge-cut stones that lock an arch together under compression. The parapets are finished with vertical stone coping along their tops. On the eastern side of the bridge, a disused access road once ran down to the north bank of the stream, now closed off and overgrown, a small ghost of whatever traffic or maintenance routine once made that approach necessary.