Shaw's Bridge is the name given to two adjacent bridges across the

River Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. The older of the bridges is a historic stone arched bridge, which is open to cyclists and pedestrians. The new bridge is a concrete bridge which carries the

A55 road The A55, also known as the North Wales Expressway (), is a major road in Wales and England, connecting Cheshire and North Wales. The vast majority of its length from Chester to Holyhead is a dual carriageway primary route, with the exception o ...

Old bridge

The crossing is located at a shallow section of the Lagan, which had historically been used as a crossing point. The bridge is named after Captain John Shaw of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

's army, who built an oak bridge here in 1655, possibly replacing one from 1617. A stone bridge was built in 1691 by Thomas Burgh, although this was destroyed by floods, leading to its replacement with the current bridge in 1709. The bridge is composed of five stone arches: four across the river and one across the adjacent footpath. Its deck is only wide enough for one lane of traffic. Despite this, it was an important connection for many years, carrying the main road from Belfast to

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

and

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. The construction of the A55 road rendered the bridge obsolete, and in 1977 it was pedestrianised, along with its approach roads. It now forms part of the Lagan Valley Regional Park.

New bridge

In 1977, a section of the

was opened across the Lagan Valley. The road forms Belfast's outer-ring road, and crosses the Lagan on a specially constructed bridge, 20m downstream of the existing bridge. This bridge, also referred to as ''Shaw's Bridge'', is a concrete arch bridge which crosses the river and the footpaths on either side in one 70m span.

In popular culture

The old bridge is depicted in a painting by Belfast-born artist John Luke. In 2018, the bridge and adjacent boat house were both featured in BBC drama ''Come Home''.

References

Bridges completed in 1707 Bridges in Northern Ireland Buildings and structures in Belfast 1707 establishments in Ireland {{NorthernIreland-bridge-struct-stub