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Ireland's Bridges
Ronald Cox and Michael Gould

“The Bridge, even more than the Road, is a symbol of man’s conquest of nature…From the most primitive times it has been a dominant fact in the life of each community. A bridge ruled the lines of traffic…Cities grew up around them, and castles were built to command them. Battles were fought for their possession, and schemes of strategy were based upon them…History – social, economic, and military – clusters more thickly about bridges than about towns and citadels.”
- John Buchan, De La Mare

From the ninth-century timber bridge that once crossed the Shannon at Clonmacnoise, County Offaly, to the large, cable-stayed motorway bridge spanning the Boyne near Drogheda, bridges have played a vital role in the visual richness of the Irish landscape.

Ireland’s Bridges explores the design and construction of the estimated 30,000 bridges built throughout Ireland’s history. Using over 200 colour and black and white photographs, with extensive captions, the authors highlight the rich variety of Irish bridges and explore this aspect of Ireland’s cultural heritage and built environment. Ireland’s Bridges also underlines the fact that bridges form an integral part of Ireland’s architectural heritage.

Delve into the fascinating world of Ireland’s Bridges and discover another facet of Irish history.