MacNeill's Egyptian Arch

MacNeill's Egyptian Arch is a single granite span over the Camlough Road on the northwestern edge of Newry, carrying the Belfast–Dublin railway line. Up close, the battered side walls and the unornamented cornice make it clear what the engineer was reaching for — there is nothing else like it on these islands.

It sits within walking distance of Newry railway station and is best photographed from below, on the Camlough Road. There is no ticketed access; it is a piece of working infrastructure, and trains rumble overhead every few minutes during the day.

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A story
When Sir John Benjamin MacNeill engineered the Dublin–Belfast railway in the 1840s he chose to build the road crossing at Newry as a battered, pylon-style Egyptian arch — partly because the steep approach geometry suited the shape, partly because Egyptian Revival was briefly fashionable in early Victorian engineering. The arch survives almost unaltered and is in regular use as a working railway bridge.

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