Fiddown Bridge

transcribed at

Fiddown Bridge  [duchas:5158889]

Fiddown Bridge
This bridge connects the counties of Waterford and Kilkenny at Fiddown .The Waterford end of the bridge is placed in the extreme eastern portion of the Parish of Carrickbeg at Brownswood. The bridge is remarkable on these accounts. First it is a wooden bridge, second it is a draw bridge, third it is a toll bridge. It was built in 1852 by the Waterford-Limerick Railway Company for the purpose of connecting Fiddown Station with Portlaw. In fact the station at Fiddown is still officially named Fiddown and Portlaw. The latter place is two miles distant from Fiddown on the Waterford side and was then of much more importance in industry than Fiddown as it contained Malcolmsons’ cotton factory which employed a large number of Workers. The factory paid its hands by leather tokens which were accepted by shopkeepers and bankers as legal tender. The construction of the bridges was economically carried out as the engineers made use of an island which stands in the centre of the river here.  The centre of the bridge is a metalled roadway the two branches of the river being spanned by wooden archways. The draw bridge is on the Kilkenny side and allows steamers and ships to pass through on their way to

Fiddown Bridge  [duchas:5158890]

Carrick-on- Suir. The toll is collected by the Railway Company now Great Southern railways. They  repair the Bridge and are legally responsible for its upkeep. he are eight arches on  the Waterford side. At the Kilkenny side there are ten arches one of which was constructed into a draw-bridge by the Suir Steam navigation Company to allow ships to pass through to Carrick-on-Suir. It was the custom to hold dances on this bridge on Sunday Summer evenings when the boys and girls collected there as they do now to the cross- road dances at Piggots Cross. Dances have not been held for the past twenty five years. On a Sunday evening in 1882 a great crowd collected on the bridge to witness a dancing contest between two local celebreties, one from the Co.Waterford side of the Bridge and the other from the Kilkenny side. It developed into the nature of an inter–county contest. The contestants were two young ladies ; the Kilkenny lassie bore the name “Brown Fillie” ( Her real name was Brigid Brennan, Emil, Mooncoin. The Waterford young lady was known as “Foxy Angel” ( Real name Mary Brown, Tinhalla, Carrick-on-Suir). The contest was an Irish Double. The “Foxy Angel” won and the “Brown Filly “ became so vexed that she jumped the gates of the Bridge on her way home.

Fiddown Bridge  [duchas:5158891]

The gates then were not similar to the iron gates that now block the toll bridge. They were made of wood and were about two and half feet high. The eight arches at the Waterford side were destroyed by burning in July 1922 during the civil war by I.R.A. forces under the command of Seumas Robinson commanding Southern Division I.R.A. It was rebuilt in 1924 by the Free State Government. The dances on Sunday evening were again begun but the motorists Association reported the obstruction, caused by the same to the Railway Co. and dancing on the Bridge had a final swing out.