Borris viaduct, co Carlow (c. 1860)
One of the best things about county Carlow is its local building material: a beautiful, tough and sparkling granite from the quarries of Crane, Kildrana and Ballawilliamrow. The stone has distinctly affected the fabric of the small Carlow town of Borris, and can be seen in all its glory in gate lodges, houses, churches, and this large railway viaduct to the south, over the relatively flat valley of the Mountain River, rising in the Mount Leinster range and draining into the Barrow a little beyond the town. Built c. 1860-66 as the Palace East Branch to link Bagenalstown on the main Dublin-Kilkenny railway with Palace on the Waterford, New Ross and Wexford line, in effect allowing for a second Dublin-Wexford line. Never particularly successful, it lost passenger services soon after the Second World War, and closed completed in the early 1960s. The viaduct is very accessible and well-maintained. Here is the map link.
Looking south from below
Looking south: in the distance the Blackstairs-Mount Leinster mountain range
The viaduct from the south-east, with an animal feeder in the foreground, and Borris House on the other rise of the valley
