Two of these bridges still span the River Bredagh, which takes a dramatic U-turn at this particular spot before flowing into Lough Foyle. The third bridge, however, stands rather forlornly over dry land; the river that once flowed beneath it has long since changed course, leaving this structure as a puzzling reminder of the landscape’s fluid history.

This abandoned crossing, known locally as the ‘Old Bridge’, has sparked considerable debate among historians about its age. Whilst some earlier authorities optimistically suggested it could date back to the sixth, eighth, or ninth centuries, more recent archaeological assessments paint a different picture. The bridge consists of four narrow bays, each about a metre wide, separated by three rectangular stone pillars that once helped deflect the river’s flow. These pillars, now standing about a metre above the silted riverbed, support grass-covered stone slabs that form the bridge deck, which measures roughly 2.5 metres across. Though the structure now leads merely to a field, its alignment points towards Cooley graveyard, about three-quarters of a mile to the west, suggesting it once formed part of an important local route.

Despite romantic notions of ancient origins, archaeologists from the 1983 Archaeological Survey of County Donegal concluded that a pre-medieval date seems unlikely for this particular bridge. The confusion about its age may have stemmed from references to ‘The Arch’ with ‘Wattle marks’ mentioned by the historian Swan in 1949, though this description actually referred to a smaller bridge leading to Gulladoo House itself. Situated in fertile farmland at the southeastern end of Breadth Glen, these bridges collectively offer an intriguing glimpse into how local infrastructure has adapted, persisted, or been abandoned as rivers shift their courses and communities change their paths over centuries.