Duagh-Kilmorna Bridge

Duagh-Kilmorna Bridge to Nowhere

A recent edition of Mary Cogan’s Listowel Connection Blog reminded us of the time Duagh was mentioned in the House of Commons. Mr. Flavin MP questioned Balfour about Duagh Bridge in the House in 1898. He wanted to know why the bridge built in 1891, seven years previously, was not available for public use. The Grand Jury of Kerry had erected the bridge at a cost of £3,496 10s. Gerard Balfour, the Chief Secretary, acknowledged that; “…no proper crossing has been provided by the railway company at this point. The grand jury, …state they have no power to employ a person to look after the gate… I am advised there is no legal provision under which the railway company or the grand jury can be required to provide a crossing, and the Board of Trade inform me they have no power to intervene.” Mr Flavin tried to ask why the Grand Jury had used ratepayer’s money to build a bridge without first sorting things with the railway company but was ruled out of order.

Michael Joseph Flavin (1866 - 1944) Anti-Parnellite Nationalist M.P. for North Kerry from 1896 until 1918. Born in Ballyduff, he went to St. Michael’s College in Listowel. James Connolly’s paper, ‘The Workers’ Republic’ of January 22, 1916, mentions Flavin in a report of a British Army recruiting meeting in Tralee called to encourage people to join the British War effort, “Flavin, to his credit be it said, has not appeared on a Recruiting platform since he spoke in Tralee some months ago. He has refrained from advising any of his supporters to don kakhi. He is a wise guy”. We do know that the bridge was under construction in 1890. The newspapers of the time reported that the scaffolding used in the building of the bridge had been swept away –luckily at a time when none of the workers were present. It was feared that the bridge had been carried off as well, but we know it was completed in 1891. The railway line existed before either the new road running from Foildarrig to Lacka East or Duagh Bridge over the Feale were put in place. Why the Waterford and Limerick Railway Company did not agree to a level crossing to facilitate the opening of the new connecting road and bridge is not clear. The reasons may have been the high cost of constructing or staffing the crossing or, as Mr Balfour said, there was no legal compulsion on them to do so. The line from Ballingarrane Junction (two miles north of Rathkeale) to Tralee was opened in December 1880 so, when it came to the question of a level crossing for a new road, the Railway company had ‘squatters right’ so to speak. Two years prior to Mr. Flavin’s unsuccessful representations to government the Kerry Evening Post of March 11, 1896 carried a report on the proceedings of the Grand Jury and its efforts to deal with the problem of the ‘bridge-to-nowhere’. A report stated, in the absence of an agreement with the Railway Company on the construction of a level crossing, the cost of a bridge over the railway line would be £700 and it would cost £1,000 to carry the road under the Railway line. Moving into the next century the Kerry Evening Post of August 9, 1902 reported that the County Surveyor urged the Council to approve the works regarding the approach road to the ‘railway bridge at Duagh”. At this stage it seems the Railway Company had agreed to build a bridge over the railway line but the Surveyor “had not yet heard from the company as to when they will proceed with it”. The work on the approach roads required the taking in of just over an acre of land. Lord Listowel claimed compensation at the rate of £22. 10s per Irish acre and two of his tenants, William Stack and Daniel Keane, claimed £90 and £60 respectively for the loss they would sustain. The total claimed for the patch of ground would be around €20,000 when updated to today’s money values! I am not sure if there were compulsory purchase orders back then. So, it seems Duagh Bridge was not available for public use for the first twelve years of its existence – a possible world record! The nearby railway bridge that was eventually built to allow traffic to proceed no longer spans a railway line instead it will offer a fantastic view of the North Kerry Greenway which will pass under it! This railway bridge and the nearby Duagh Bridge makes yet another interesting story for the many visitors who will traverse the Greenway in the future. Local historians, Dan Broderick points out that the first Duagh bridge was wooden. In 1917 repairs to an arch were underway at a cost of £1,500 when the bridge was swept away by a flood. The present 375 foot concrete bridge costing £7,275 was opened in the autumn of 1932. (Thanks also to Tom Pius Moloney for information on the bridge).