placenamesThompson's Bridge
Droichead Mhic Thomáis
The A509 crossing over the Swanlinbar River became a site for university bridge research.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Droichead Mhic Thomáis · Irish · main form · validated name
- Thompson's Bridge · English · main form
Place & story
Replacing the river crossing
The replacement of Thompson’s Bridge carried the A509 across the Upper Cladagh, or Swanlinbar River. An initial two-span design gave way to a single span supported by four precast concrete beams. Part of its concrete deck used basalt-fibre polymer reinforcement instead of steel. Queen’s University Belfast monitored the structure to study the alternative material’s performance. Su Taylor’s project report explained that reducing future maintenance was especially valuable beside a river supporting freshwater pearl mussels. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Fermanagh
- Barony
- Knockninny
- Civil parish
- Kinawley
- Coordinates
- 54.34430, -7.72319 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 130661 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Thompson's Bridge. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Bridge deck slabs with non-metallic reinforcement: Thompson’s Bridge Replacement, final report, February 2012, pages 1, 3 and 15 · Dr Su Taylor, Queen’s University Belfast, for the Bridge Owners Forum
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-19. How this page was prepared.