Repair work completed on 300-year-old County Roscommon bridge
The works involved road resurfacing on the L7129 which goes over the bridge.
Repair and restoration works on a 300-year-old bridge on the River Suck near Athleague have been completed, Roscommon County Council has confirmed.
Funded by an improvement grant from the Department of Transport, the works on Rookwood Bridge involved repairs to some of the arches, repointing of all the stonework with lime mortar, repairs to the cutwaters, removing overgrowth and vegetation from the structure, along with road resurfacing. The L7129 road over the bridge, which is located 2km west of Athleague, has since been reopened.
A spokesperson for Roscommon County Council said the local authority was delighted to have completed this restoration project and hoped that locals and visitors could again enjoy the bridge's views for many years to come.
“Rookwood Bridge consists of a 10-span masonry arch structure, built circa 1725. The bridge has an overall length of 60.5m, and its full width is 6.25m. The parapet walls are 0.4m thick and 1.45m in height,” explained the council spokesperson.
“The walls are constructed of random rubble with small stones suggesting field stone use, indicating its early eighteenth-century date.
“This is a very fine early eighteenth-century bridge that has exceptionally large cutwaters and many arches. The bridge is very well preserved, considering its age,” added the spokesperson.
In August, local councillor Laurence Fallon welcomed funding of €250,000 for the repair of both Rookwood Bridge and another local bridge at Castlestrange, located approximately 2km north of Athleague. He said that the two bridges had fallen into disrepair and he was pleased to have secured €250,000 for their repair and restoration.
Cllr Fallon told the Roscommon Herald this week that he was delighted that the restoration of Rookwood Bridge had now been completed and confirmed that the works on the nine span Castlestrange Bridge had commenced in the last number of weeks.
There are intermittent road closures in place to allow these bridge maintenance works to be carried out.
