The bridge stands on or very near the site of an earlier crossing, first documented during the tumultuous plantation period of the seventeenth century. When Captain Crawford received his grant of 1,000 acres in Letterkenny, Sir George Merbury was busy establishing a market town nearby, complete with 50 thatched houses, of which only 13 boasted the relative luxury of clay and stone walls. By 1654, the Civil Survey recorded a thriving settlement with its Friday market, two annual fairs, a substantial stone dwelling house with a defensive bawn featuring four flankers, a church, and crucially, a bridge at the town’s edge spanning the Swilly.

The original seventeenth century bridge appears on the Down Survey maps of 1655-6, marking the southern boundary of old Letterkenny. From here, the High Way stretched eastward towards Aghanunshin Hill, whilst another road branched northwest, likely connecting the castle and church to this vital river crossing. Whether the current structure incorporates elements of this earlier bridge remains a tantalising mystery; the original foundations may well lie hidden beneath the riverbed, sealed beneath centuries of silt and stone.

Today’s Oldtown Bridge dates from the early eighteenth century, built sometime between 1700 and 1740 with the characteristic tall, pointed cutwaters that helped protect the structure from flood debris and ice. The bridge’s three graceful arches have recently received modern reinforcement in the form of a concrete layer on their undersides, a practical if somewhat inelegant addition ensuring this historic crossing continues to serve Letterkenny well into its fourth century of use. Standing here, it’s easy to imagine the Friday market traders of old crossing with their wares, the same river flowing beneath their feet as flows beneath ours today.