Bridge, Nohaval Daly, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Bridges & Crossings

Bridge, Nohaval Daly, Co. Cork

A limestone bridge carrying a road across the River Blackwater, right on the county boundary between Cork and Kerry, sounds unremarkable enough.

What makes this one worth a second look is a pair of plaques embedded in its parapet walls. One reads "Duncannon Bridge / Richard Griffith Engineer"; the other, on the opposite face, reads "W IV REX / AD 1834", placing its construction firmly in the reign of William IV. The bridge is referred to locally by the name Duncannon, though the townland it sits in is Nohaval Daly, and its position straddling two counties gives it a quiet administrative peculiarity that the stonework does nothing to advertise.

Richard Griffith is a significant name in Irish history, best known for the primary valuation of Ireland he oversaw in the mid-nineteenth century, a property survey so comprehensive that it became an indispensable tool for genealogists trying to trace ancestors before the great census losses. In 1834, however, he was working in his capacity as an engineer and geologist, and the bridge reflects the solid civic infrastructure being laid down in that period. The structure has three wide segmental arches, each spanning roughly 8.9 metres, built from dressed limestone with chamfered voussoirs, the wedge-shaped stones that lock an arch in place, and a prominent central keystone. A limestone string course runs above the arches, and the parapet walls are finished with D-shaped limestone coping. On the upstream side, low blunt cutwaters protect the piers from the force of the river; the downstream pier bases are faced in ashlar limestone. The overall design closely resembles a nearby structure known as Leader's Bridge, suggesting both may have come from the same engineering hand or office.

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