THE RIVER DODDER AT MILLTOWN NEAR THE PACKHORSE BRIDGE
The old bridge in my photographs is Packhorse Bridge which is a 17th century structure now protected under the Dublin Development plan 2011 – 2017.
For many years I could not find the old bridge near the Nine Arches in Milltown and then about two years ago a very old gentleman who was standing on the bridge told me that it was the oldest bridge in Dublin but he could not remember its name however it had something to do with horses. He claimed that Oliver Cromwell visited the area and crossed the Dodder via the old narrow bridge.
When I returned home I was able to establish that it is known as Packhorse Bridge but little information relating to the actual bridge is available online.
A packhorse bridge is a bridge intended to carry packhorses (horses loaded with sidebags or panniers) across a river or stream. Typically a packhorse bridge consists of one or more narrow (one horse wide) masonry arches, and has low parapets so as not to interfere with the panniers borne by the horses. Multi-arched examples sometimes have triangular cutwaters that are extended upward to form pedestrian refuges.
Packhorse bridges were often built on the trade routes (often called packhorse routes) that formed major transport arteries across Europe and Great Britain until the coming of the turnpike roads and canals in the 18th century. Before the road-building efforts of Napoleon, all crossings of the Alps were on packhorse trails. Travellers’ carriages were dismantled and transported over the mountain passes by ponies and mule trains.
BOYNE COTTAGES OFF BRIDGE STREET TRIM COUNTY MEATH
These cottages are at Bridge Street Bridge [Old Trim Bridge or Trim Bridge] and I noticed on Google Maps that this is the oldest bridge in Ireland. However I lived in Donegal when I was young and I remember my father showing me the oldest bridge in Ireland and according to the locals it was built by St. Patrick. The bridge in question is opposite ‘Gulladuff House’ on the grounds of Moville Boutique Hostel is reputed to be the oldest bridge in Ireland, dating back to the 6th Century.
I think that the bridge in Trim is the oldest unmodified bridge “still in use”.
[Update: According to a number of accounts Trim bridge crosses the River Boyne near the castle. It was built about 1330, and is regarded as the oldest unchanged medieval bridge in Ireland.]
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