Bridge, Knockataggle More, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Bridges & Crossings

Bridge, Knockataggle More, Co. Kerry

Most old bridges are content to do their job quietly: carry traffic, span water, weather the years.

This one, crossing a tributary of the Deenagh river in Knockataggle More, does something slightly different. Cut into the inner face of the western end of the northern parapet wall is a geometric motif, the kind of deliberate, considered mark that someone took the trouble to make on a surface most people would never think to examine. It is not decorative in any obvious public sense; it faces inward, toward the arch rather than the road, suggesting it meant something to whoever put it there rather than to passing travellers.

The bridge itself is a humpback design, running east to west and measuring just under five metres wide. Its single elliptical arch, with a span of around eight metres, is formed with shaped voussoirs, the wedge-cut stones that lock together to distribute the weight of the arch outward to its supports. The parapet walls are finished with round-topped horizontal blocks of cut stone, a coping style that is tidy rather than ornate. Together these features point to a structure built with care and some skill, serving a rural crossing over a minor watercourse that feeds into the Deenagh, the river that runs through Killarney. The incised motif on the parapet adds a layer of quiet ambiguity: whether it is a mason's mark, a boundary indicator, or something else entirely, no explanation appears to have been recorded alongside the physical description of the bridge.

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Pete F
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