County: Meath Site name: CURLEY'S BRIDGE, CLONMAHON
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04D016
Author: Rex Bangerter, The Archaeological Diving Company Ltd, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Riverine survey
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 683323m, N 749859m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.492138, -6.744338
Visual inspection and magnetometer survey by handheld metal detection were employed to assess the archaeological potential of the riverbed and associated bank structures 60m upstream and 60m downstream of Curley's Bridge. This work was undertaken prior to the R158 roadway realignment scheme. No archaeologically significant features were identified from the in-water survey. Curley's Bridge is a narrow, single-arched, crudely constructed masonry bridge measuring 9m (29.05ft) in width. The arch-ring is of pointed saracenic form with twenty arch stones. The bridge is likely to be associated with the 18th-century estate landscape of the surrounding area and its arch design points to a pre-1775 construction date. The current bridge structure has undergone extensive modern alteration/repair work from the 1960s onwards. The bridge was fully recorded in plan and elevation. The assessment was undertaken on 22 June 2004.
