The Bann at Coleraine

A couple of older shots for you today.  Nothing spectacular, just of the River Bann at Coleraine, my home town.  Well I kinda grew up outside of Coleraine - in the North East Liberties to be precise!  But sure you know all that already (as a keen reader of this blog, right?!).  Anyway, the first is of the old bridge across the Bann.  We are told that the first bridge here was in 1248 and lasted until 1315 (destroyed during the Bruce invasion, presumably him of the spider tale).  A ferry was the only means of crossing until 1673, when a certain William Jackson built another bridge.  This would have been well after the fortification of Coleraine at the start of the Plantation of Ulster.  Another bridge was erected in 1716 and removed in 1843.  The stone bridge, which you see below, was completed in 1844.

Coleraine Old Bridge over the Bann, 2014

A couple of hundred yards upstream is the Cutts.  I've written about the Cutts in an earlier post.  There's a really nice walk along Christie Park from the bridge to the Cutts, looking over to Mountsandel.  On this particular day it was a bit foggy, but pleasant all the same.  Quite often I've seen kingfishers along here and you sometimes get the odd heron or two, although mostly they reside downstream, between the town and the Barmouth.   You really need to be on a boat to get the best view of the wildlife along the river - and I'm not really cut out for boats, or dry land come to that :)

View towards the Cutts, Moundandel opposite

Not the best negatives these two - bit lacking in contrast, possibly due to aging developer.  But it was a murky day anyway, so maybe these are a fair reflection of the conditions.