Lucan Bridge

Lucan Bridge (Irish: Droichead Leamhcán)^[1] is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in the town of Lucan in Dublin, Ireland. It joins Lucan's Main Street to the Lower Lucan Road, carrying traffic towards Clonsilla and the north.

The bridge is the largest single span masonry arch bridge in Ireland,^[2] and is constructed from ashlar masonry with a span of 33 metres (110 feet) and a rise of 6.7 metres (22 feet). It is framed by iron balustraded parapets made by the Royal Phoenix ironworks of Parkgate Street in Dublin.^[3]

Designed by George Knowles (architect of Dublin's Fr. Mathew and O'Donovan Rossa Bridges), it was built in 1814 in collaboration with James Savage to replace several previous bridges which were carried away by floods.^[2]

The first bridge built on this spot was a stone bridge laid down in the later years of the reign of King John (c. 1200). A subsequent bridge was built by the first Agmondisham Vesey c. 1730, but washed away within very short time. The next was built c. 1771, but this too washed away in a flood in 1786 – as did its replacement.^[4]

In 1814, the present single-span bridge was completed by Savage & Knowles, and has remained largely unaffected by the effects of flooding common to this stretch of the Liffey. The bridge, however, has seen some recent developments, with the raising of the roadway near both ends of the arch to lessen the gradient for road traffic.^[3]

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