The Bunlahinch Clapperbridge is located about 7k southwest of Louisburgh on the Bunleemshough river.  Needless to say I happened across it one day as I wandered along the road wondering where it would take me.  There is nothing in the Ordnance Survey maps to tell you what to expect.  I was fascinated

The Clapperbridge is a footbridge designed to cross wide flat streams and rivers,  Water can rise up easily over it and can wash away through the holes between the stone piers without doing any damage to the bridge.  The structure of a Clapperbridge consists of stones or pillars which are spanned by flat stone slabs or planks.  I’ve tired catching shots of the stones and planks and the structure of the Clapperbridge, also one shot just of the water to show how clean it is.

This particular bridge was most likely built in the late 1840s or ’50s by the Irish Church Mission, a Protestant community led by Hugh Gordon.  Hugh Gordon was known as a ‘jumper’, that is a person who changed his religion.