Union Mills Bridge

Downstream side of the bridge

Upstream side of the bridge

Union Mills Bridge carries the A1 over the River Dhoo In Union Mills on the edge of Douglas. It is a strange structure, with an old stone arch bridge which has been very unsympathetically widened with mass concrete on the downstream side. It also appears that the roadway over the bridge has been substantially raised in the past. This probably occurred c1927, when Braddan Bridge was widened, although there is no date stone on this structure.

The old part of the bridge comprises three small stone arches, which are unequally spaced, with two very substantial piers in the river bed. Above this, a substantial and bluff rubble stone wall rises several feet, requiring a substantial volume of stone and infill, to reach the road level. It is highly unusual to find a bridge built in this manner, as it is is generally considerably cheaper to build a larger arch and use less stonework, or to drop the road level down to the crown of the arches. On the opposite side, the bridge has been widened in concrete, with a thin concrete slab set just below road level, supported by massive, square concrete piers, completely losing the aesthetic of the arches which are now buried within. The two piers are even more unequal than the originals, and while the extension has been topped by a stone parapet, it is different in style to the original.

In the early 1870s, the Douglas to Peel railway line was constructed, and this runs through Union Mills on the southern bank of the River Dhoo. However, to allow room for the station on the downstream side of the bridge, the old railway line punched through the embankment a short distance to the south of the river bridge, with a separate arch of its own. Since the railway closed, the trackbed has been converted into a popular path and cycleway.