Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Selected: CO. MEATH, OLDBRIDGE, OBELISK BRIDGE

Name: SEARANCKE, SAMUEL STEPHEN
Building: CO. MEATH, OLDBRIDGE, OBELISK BRIDGE
Date: 1868
Nature: New bridge to be erected to replace wooden bridge which collapsed in 1867. Responsibility for design of same shared by John Neville (as Co. Surveyor for Co. Louth) , Samuel Searancke (as Co. Surveyor for Co. Meath) and Alexander Tate, civil engineer. Contractor for prefabricated girders: Grendon & Co.
Refs: IB 9, 1 Jun 1867, 134; 10, 15 Jun 1868, 157; W.G. Strype, 'Description of the iron lattice girder road bridge recently erected over the River Boyne at the Obelisk', TICEI 9 (1866-70), 67-78; R.C. Cox & M.H. Gould, Civil Engineering Heritage: Ireland (1998), 80-81(illus.)

Name: STRYPE, WILLIAM GEORGE
Building: CO. MEATH, OLDBRIDGE, OBELISK BRIDGE
Date: 1868
Nature: New bridge replacing wooden bridge which collapsed in 1867. WGS engineer to Grendon & Co., contractors for prefabricated girders.
Refs: IB 9, 1 Jun 1867, 134; 10, 15 Jun 1868, 157; W.G. Strype, 'Description of the iron lattice girder road bridge recently erected over the River Boyne at the Obelisk', TICEI 9 (1866-70), 67-78; R.C. Cox & M.H. Gould, Civil Engineering Heritage: Ireland (1998), 80-81(illus.)

Name: NEVILLE, JOHN [2]
Building: CO. MEATH, OLDBRIDGE, OBELISK BRIDGE
Date: 1868-69
Nature: New single span iron lattice girder bridge replacing wooden bridge which collapsed in 1867. Responsibility for design of same shared by John Neville (as Co. Surveyor for Co. Louth) , Samuel Searanke (as Co. Surveyor for Co. Meath) and Alexander Tate, civil engineer (but only Neville's name appears on plaque on bridge). Contractor for prefabricated girders: Grendon & Co. 'The bridge…is gratecfully designed of iron and stone. Heavy piers of limestone at either end are united by latticed iron sides…The iron is painted so white that it proves an irresistible temptation to the younger visitors, who use it as an album for recording tender and political sentiments…' (Bassett)
Refs: Plaque on bridge; IB 9, 1 Jun 1867, 134; 10, 15 Jun 1868, 157; George Henry Bassett, Louth County Guide and Directory (1886), 127; R.C. Cox & M.H. Gould, Civil Engineering Heritage: Ireland (1998), 80-81(illus.);   Brendan O'Donoghue, The Irish County Surveyors 1834-1944 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), 267