A Farmer Builds His Own Bridge, Co. Roscommon, Ireland 1981

Roscommon farmer Ned Clogher builds the first private bridge across the River Suck.
In 1977 south Roscommon farmer Ned Clogher bought Clooncoran island from the Land Commission as an extension of his existing 40 acre holding. Clooncoran lies in the middle of a fork in the River Suck, the main tributary of the River Shannon forming much of the border between County Roscommon and County Galway.
Ned Clogher faced the problem of how to farm the the 22 acre island. He tried using a boat to transport his cattle over to Clooncoran, but the vessel capsized twice. He also ruled out using a helicopter,
I couldn’t afford that, Charlie Haughey might.
Enlisting the help of family and friends, over the course of three summers, Ned Clogher built a bridge across the River Suck to his island. The 120 foot bridge cost about £15,000 to complete.
To celebrate the completion of his engineering feat, Ned Clogher organises an official opening for the bridge. The entire village of Carrowreagh come out to congratulate him on his enterprise. Roscommon Fianna Fáil TD Terry Leyden performs the ribbon cutting ceremony and other guests of honour include a local county councillor and the village’s 88 year old War of Independence veteran.
Terry Leyden praises Ned’s resourcefulness in building what he believes is the only private enterprise bridge built over the River Suck.
I think he has achieved something great here today.
Ned’s Clogher’s island cost him in the region of £2000 but access via the bridge has increased its value to £20,000.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 7 December 1981. The reporter is Jim Fahy. The track accompanying this clip is ‘Colonel Bogey’.

[@davidhuff5676]

Took matters into his own hands and increased the land value tenfold. Top man. I hope he prospered, out of it.

[@jamesbradshaw3389]

Only one problem no sailing ships or tall sailboats can pass through, they will have to turn around and go back home, a fancy tall Japness wooden bridge hinged on both sides and opening up in the middle would have worked, don't tell me cows are afraid of walking over tall bridges,it was proven long ago that the cow jumped over the moon

[@shaneoconnell268]

@@jamesbradshaw3389 the boats can just go around the other side of the island

[@ihonestlydontcare1158]

Trust me nothing more than a canoe goes through that river

[@yellowgreen5229]

#EatTheRich

[@Eddiedoherty22]

That's a true Irish hero at 3:09 👏👏

[@brianmagennis]

The cutting of the ribbon with nail scissors was a beautiful touch

[@gabebutler5503]

'Let's walk across and see if it works'... 😁

[@smurph4959]

That was so funny ... can only imagine what Ned was thinking in response lol

[@seandelap6268]

Try doing the same thing today and you will have the council on your back about taking it down again.

[@bill90405]

I believe the bridge is still there. You can see it off Mannings Rd in Clonardon, Co Rosscommon. Or on Google maps

[@kerryman69]

Well spotted ! That looks like it alright !

[@crappymeal]

nice

[@andyarmstrong1493]

Love the "Bridge over the River Suck" music.

[@andyarmstrong1493]

Brilliant story, admirable man!

[@PVAglue-fi4kc]

If he got the council to build it now it would probably cost 1.5 million

[@andrewdunne1735]

Are you joking, that would only be the first estimate,by the time all the pockets were greased it would end up at 10 million, a bit like the children's hospital!

[@HillHyker]

@@andrewdunne1735 I get your drift Andrew, but not quite as big as the children's hospital. However, it remains to be seen if they will but a toll on it...

[@lindahughes4409]

@@HillHyker half a billion at least

[@fearbabhla8841]

Well the lazy and corrupt need to be over payed too

[@CollieJenn]

And that's just the research cost 🙂

[@tomc6407]

Good man! We need more people like Ned.

[@Bekesam]

Nice to see a video of something that worthwhile seeing.

[@johnnielson7676]

The story reminds me a little bit of Calum’s Road. When Alex MacLeod of the Island of Raasay, Scotland couldn’t get the council to build a road, he used a pick, shovel and wheelbarrow to single-handed lay build 2.8km road over a ten year period. The council eventually agreed to pave what he had built.

[@danlamont7133]

Feel like it should be Alex's road

[@mister_M.]

How generous of them

[@szymongorczynski7621]

A few years ago a man in England built a private toll road after a landslide blocked the main road into town

[@alastairward2774]

@@szymongorczynski7621 read about that, it's the one that went out of use when the council suddenly sped up work on the public road, just as a coincidence when the private road was built.

[@alastairward2774]

@@mister_M. saved a lot of money, good for the council 👍

[@justthetruth1]

Regulations today would mean this wouldn't even be allowed happen. Better times back then.

[@Alphae21]

untrue

[@DC66DC]

@@Alphae21 very true nobody is gonna be granted planning permission to build a while damn bridge

[@Alphae21]

@@DC66DC no one cares, its a small bridge. people build em all the time

[@DC66DC]

@@Alphae21 you are definitely a teenager who lives with their mother still, you are showing a clear lack of understanding for the real world...

[@Alphae21]

@@DC66DC what? 😂 you dont need planning permission to pop up a wee bridge across a stream, you would know if you went outside more..

[@nobodynoone2500]

We should all be so lucky to be afforded the opportunity to bridge the River Suck, actual or metaphorical. When you are offered the opportunity, take it.

[@earlfedrick110]

When news actually mentions a good word! Back in the day!!!!

[@mariapierce2707]

This could actually be made into a short movie .GOD bless Ireland 🇮🇪 Thank you for posting. Keep em coming

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

U should say old Ireland 🇮🇪 cause it’s finished now.

[@alastairward2774]

Is this all it really takes to impress people? One man builds a bridge and suddenly everyone is gushing.

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

@@alastairward2774 I’d say it’s more then you’ve done kid.

[@lizdoyle7158]

If we only had Ned building houses for people in 2022 wed have houses for all

[@jimohara]

“I done as good as I could anyways”

[@jimmyotoole5464]

I built a 20 ft log bridge over a tributary river last spring tn order to remove saw log from a forest.Illegal mabey but i got my work done

[@celticisraelite1231]

I absolutely love these videos! My heart so longs to see that wonderful home of my ancestors! Oh Lord what a wonderful nation You gave the Irish…bless them again Lord that they will remember You

[@daithiocinnsealach1982]

You come over here with that attitude and you'll be mocked. I can 8magine you now, on the street corner handingoit religious tracts and shouting into a microphone about how we need the salvation that St Patrick brought us blah, blah, blah. Keep your fantasies and your delusions about your ancestors and about your god.

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

Place is getting destroyed plz spread the word

[@lauraswann5543]

Celtic Israelite, it's not anything like that anymore. We have over one and a half million immigrants in Ireland now. Ireland isn't even Irish anymore.

[@marcasdebarun6879]

@@lauraswann5543 People like you fascinate me. Ye would think after our long and lengthy history of emigration to countries where we were similarly treated like dirt and had to endure such hardship to make something of ourselves ye would have more sympathy for those trying to do the very same! But no, instead we should turn our backs on people coming here looking for better opportunities just like other countries done with us in centuries past. Éist liom, a amadán!

[@user-oj8ks5sp3h]

@@lauraswann5543 Celtic Israelite?

[@FORANWFS]

People feel accomplished now a days when they watch a whole Netflix series in one night let alone building bridges

[@seanolaocha940]

What does this comment even mean

[@FORANWFS]

@@seanolaocha940 it means what it spells out in English. bet you've never even hammered a nail into wood once ,

[@FORANWFS]

@@seanolaocha940 at least upload some content to your KZbin channel haha ya sap

[@FORANWFS]

@@seanolaocha940 you clearly felt accomplished after finishing a crappy mind melting Netflix series before and are just offended ,,and also have never built something wit your bare hands so u just don't get it, and how difficult it actually is and all the energy it takes and knowledge ,,good luck to ya

[@FORANWFS]

or maybe u just didn't even watch this video u just commented on haha

[@Paul-te8mz]

Excellent. Really great initiative, instead of waiting for Government intervention. Well done.

[@Eddiedoherty22]

Fair play Ned.. no brown envelopes there . U took the bull by the horns.👏👏

[@TheGweems]

Why do I get the feeling that dispite this bridge and it's story embodying all that is great about human enterprise and resolve, if you tried to do that now it would be illegal and the village would be turned against you.

[@antseanbheanbocht4993]

There's probably a 3 euro toll on the thing now, and a funded by European development fund sign too.

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

Sad but so true

[@orls9068]

Hahaha

[@annette4444]

Hello an OBRIEN & Northern Mc Caffrey here.

[@gburahbondo2948]

I love Ireland.

[@warrendoyle2875]

Nobody helped him except his family and friends, brilliant

[@alastairward2774]

So people did help him? This is like the story of the stone soup, nobody helped him. Except family. And friends. And it still took 3 years. And we don't know if any of those people had heavy equipment or access to any other resources. But when they tell the story like that, making it sound like a one man effort, you're right, it is "brilliant".

[@HillHyker]

Now the people of Roscommon can cross on dry land.

[@Alphae21]

what do you mean

[@HillHyker]

@@Alphae21 the gut built bridge. They won't have to take a boat across. They can walk over, no fear of getting wet.

[@dickdiver9614]

Most of South Roscommon outside Lough Funshinnagh has been under water for several months now. Not much dry walking there.

[@f.b508]

Well done 👌💚🇮🇪

[@JablesMullet]

You can hardly recognize Cleese and Palin in this one. While it's one of their more subtle skits, it's still a hoot!

[@Stop..carry-on]

Top fella . Unfortunately these days bureaucracy wouldn’t let him , he’d have to cross many many palms with silver and file many planing applications ect and in the end still get turned down or messed about

[@robbie4787]

Very symbolic as well

[@welshmanjasonpatrick8607]

Great man good to build own

[@blackbeardgamer5909]

Back when government would applaud your hard work. Now they would tear it down and give him a massive fine for daring to build something on his own property

[@3158dave]

Something just annoying about a politician opening the bridge when the war veteran was more appropriate.

[@zfid]

Very true. I did like how he stopped behind after the crossing and gazed after the others top man

[@alastairward2774]

@@zfid old man more like.

[@alastairward2774]

Why is the veteran more appropriate? Did the British burn down a previous bridge?

[@3158dave]

@@alastairward2774 your old then

[@3158dave]

@@alastairward2774 your in love with a political person then

[@MyFoxworld]

How the hell did they not let the war veteran cut the ribbon! 😳

[@Oluinneachain]

Not a chance when Terry Layden is the local TD. 🙄

[@dickdiver9614]

​@@OluinneachainEven Terry Leydon 😂

[@thomaswykes3647]

I hope it's still there and in use

[@EverGreen1888]

Great river for pike fishing

[@gamesurviver]

Really yeah?

[@dickdiver9614]

No pikies in Roscommon 😂

[@LeedsUnitedJohn]

Colonel Bogey as the tune. Brilliant

[@colinsmith1288]

I wonder if that bridge still exists.

[@philipoconnor2236]

It'd be a few miles outside of Ballinasloe as far as l know. If it's the same carrowreagh townland

[@colinsmith1288]

@@philipoconnor2236 Will visit there the next time l am in ireland. The farmer reminds me of my Irish grandad. Great knowledge and skill too build that bridge.

[@douglasfreeman3229]

When I saw this I thought "Shit. I'd better let the cat in", then I just fell asleep with the light on. I woke up 10 minutes later and there was an even duller upload running. Everytime I fell asleep I woke up to progressively sillier and more surreal videos.

[@nigefal]

Crucially important War of Independence fella is there. Just in case they come back and take the bridge! 🤣

[@rubberneckk]

Back at a time in Ireland when you could do what you wanted..

[@dbcooper7326]

The council would sue him these days

[@freespeechisneverwrong9351]

So true.

[@Dollymix001]

Fair play.

[@rozdoyle8872]

Good Man Ned , that's the real way of overcoming obstacles , Just fecking do yourself and shut to F up and shut out all those cowardly whingers , More Ned's and Nedesses in this country and the cowards would have no foot hold.

[@laserpanda94]

That's an awful lot of whingeing you've just done Roz

[@alastairward2774]

He didn't do it himself.

[@jamesbradshaw3389]

All very important people, getting handshakes before crossing over the bridge, I build a bridge on my piece of land so I could get over to the other side, May years later nobody came to shake my hand, Today I am the only person to have cross over this bridge, excluding the many animals, it is built across a hast moving river, way down the valley O, between high mountains, the nearest road is over 6 miles away, I now live in hope one day meeting a hitchhiker who will shake my hand and pay me a silver shilling for the use of my bridge

[@markhughes7927]

Great!

[@samyajuli]

This is amazing. How I miss Ireland and the people♡

[@kerrysupporter]

Is it still there?

[@williamreilly9017]

I'd love to see recent footage of the bridge?

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

It’s still there yes

[@mysundayworst_6]

People aren't born in Ireland legends are

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

Ohh I miss the old Ireland 🇮🇪

[@alastairward2774]

If you actually lived in it you wouldn't.

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

@@alastairward2774 I bet I’m more Irish ☘️ then u kid. Im 💯 % dub so bounce with ur Scottish name

[@dickdiver9614]

​@@grlfcgombeenhunter2897Ally feels disenfranchised for some reason 😂

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

@@dickdiver9614 lmfwao.

[@TheTmny876able]

Good on him, nowadays you would need planning permition etc, etc.

[@Kevin-rw4yw]

Anyone know if the bridge still exists?

[@shanemoore4140]

It does I go fishing there alot

[@charliem5332]

Where about on the river is it?

[@tonemc6047]

No it collapsed 5 minutes after it was officially opened .

[@justthetruth1]

The Healy Raes have laid claim to it.

[@Kevin-rw4yw]

@@justthetruth1 what's that?

[@blissken1]

Should be what we do now.

[@MrSpudguncat]

He should have made the Councillors walk through the river or charged them a Toll to cross!

[@chrisfarrell7280]

Lets take a walk across it to see how it works

[@ruairijoseph]

Definitely a great aul idea to give land owners land handouts… bet a taxi driver has never been given a new taxi handout…

[@laserpanda94]

What would a urologist get?

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

The taxi men are getting €25 grand to change there cars mate.

[@scoyle1750]

Mostly forgeiners driving taxis I would give them a flight back home to the desert where they belong dirty scouging dossers

[@jgdooley2003]

The land commission was set up in Ireland just after independence to divide up lands formerly held by landlords who belonged to the Anglo Irish ascendency some of who left Ireland in 1922 or whose family died out with no heirs or interest in farming. The land was then granted to small holders who had to pay an annuity, like a mortgage, over a set number of years in order to get title to the land. In 1932 the DeValera government refused to hand over the annuities to the British government who were charged with handing the monies over to the former landlords. This started what became known as the economic war, when the Britsh imposed tariffs on Irish cattle exports, the main money maker of the time. The saving episode came when WW2 caused a huge demand for Irish produce, mostly meat and dairy but also grain and gave farmers a good price for their labours. While many urban people may consider the late 19th and early 20th century land acts as "giveaways" it was only confined to tenant farmers who already worked the land for many generations and the actual value of the land was small in those times. Today the land would be worth many times more since the population of Ireland is growing rapidly and demand for building sites is robust. This was not obviously so in the 1970's when emigration and unemployment was rife in Ireland . Both my grandparents on both sides of my family benefitted from land purchase schemes in the early 1900's to get smallholdings and make a living in those difficult times. They all worked like dogs to make a go of it and make a living for their families. Most had other jobs as well as the land to make a living.

[@bobmiller7502]

its people like this put the great in great Britain, power to you xx

[@Bennybigballs24]

Except it’s Ireland and we are nothing like the British. You knobgobbler xx

[@vinopacino2423]

Who's gonna tell him 😬

[@jaym8027]

@@vinopacino2423 Well, in fairness, it was the Irish who did a lot of the construction in the UK.

[@usandusonly32]

He's not british you plonker, he's from the Republic of Ireland. These videos are about Ireland and Irish people not british or uk people

[@tonemc6047]

Don’t even go there

[@colinhutchinson1664]

30 mins later the Council told him to demolish it because he never put a planning application in.....Oh and they kept his Scissors! 🤣

[@jonmelon9792]

Money is the grandmother of invention

[@pmacc3557]

Why the need for a TD or councillor to open?

[@sam08g16]

The captions called the river "Suck", "So" and "Soak". What is the correct name??

[@johnsometimeswrong8742]

£15000 Jesus thst was big money back then ...hard to see where they spent it.

[@beakfordclakington1337]

They're BRIDGE MAD over there... sure 😂

[@oconn960491]

Politician turns up when it’s finished . Vote catching at its finest

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

Yeah they don’t even turn up now ffs

[@yellowgreen5229]

They gave him the island!

[@f.b508]

Typical of politicians

[@madmoiselle007]

Bingo

[@eoinf2773]

Surprised, He didn't offer to buy them a pint in the local pub!

[@lovingdevotions]

Bridge still standing today?

[@jimfiggerty833]

It starts with Ned got the land free then @ 3.17 it says it cost him £2000 ???

[@trevormcshane4986]

Very good,,15,000,, ,,Build it 2Day,,for 1.8,,Million😆😁😆

[@freespeechisneverwrong9351]

Nowadays everyone is asking for the government to do something for them. We need all people to think like this.

[@karancoyne7719]

fair playd to him he would be a lomg time waiting for veruka to build i

[@alastairward2774]

The comments on these videos about Ireland in the past are weird, like a meme. You'd think he made the whole thing himself with his bare hands in a month from the comments. The video tells us it took 3 years, a fair bit of money and the help of family and friends. And that's without telling us what skills any of them held. But no, somehow this man who was given free land is somehow sticking it to the man for building a bridge, out of concrete, on his own land, to facilitate himself. Shocking that the council wouldn't build it for him so he can have his animals graze the land on his island.

[@eoinf2773]

Good man commenting on a video about a country that survived a famine and fought for independence and then it redistributes its land to common people and seeing them develop it. All in the space of less than 70 years. And you try to belittle their achievements. You seem like a well educated person with strong social skills!

[@alastairward2774]

@@eoinf2773 I'm Irish and fully aware of the country's history thank you. Look it up yourself some time, not just the memes and not just switching between the famine and the uprising. Post WWII, when the rest of the world rebuilt and boomed, Ireland sat in a self inflicted, self indulgent slump. It only sorted itself out in the later part of the 1980s.

[@eoinf2773]

Memes, your the one belittling people. By any chance are you an millennial? Just because you come access to be a knob end! Long live ireland and it's great people's.

[@gordonbell1152]

It's a bit narrow for Machinery to cross over a foot or two wider would have done no harm

[@jimbolger264]

I noticed that too but it wouldnt be a major problem to widen it nowadays . You could place struts on the side concrete pillars and extend it .

[@MamieCee]

he only wanted it to move cattle

[@jimbolger264]

@@MamieCee What happens if he wants to re seed it or grow crops on it Suppose he can use the ox and plough and cut it with a sycthe

[@markcorr6704]

I reckon in 1981 the biggest tractor crossing it would be a major or a massey 165.

[@orls9068]

Big enough for his Jim Brown 😅

[@MountainRaven1960]

What would they say if the bridge collapsed when they walked across it? They’d say, ‘geeze….. that sucked!’

[@greenhandskelly5580]

Bridge on the River Suck

[@toodamnshergrapi4485]

Who was the war of independence veteran?

[@johnkelly9463]

The old guy obviously 88 year old with walking stick and medals. 🧓

[@tonemc6047]

@@johnkelly9463 I think he meant name .

[@user-zu6qn9ux9n]

@@johnkelly9463 well pretty fucking obvious inspector Clouseau!!!

[@NoOne-ze7fv]

If the government built it it would have cost 10 times more!

[@lukemcinerney7458]

Maith an fear!

[@jonfklein]

In the dictionary the word "quaint" should have a link to this video.

[@newtquestgames]

Noticed that subtitles don't work on this one

[@newtquestgames]

Also, he opened a bridge with a pair of nail scissors. Was that an oversight on the day? "Who's got the scissors?"

[@newtquestgames]

Great video enjoyed it

[@whatliesbeneathurbanexplor1631]

Yep nothing has changed with the council many many years

[@ewanduffy]

But but the fish, the bats, the lamprey, the lesser spotted yellow snail.... /sarc

[@seanmoran1056]

What about the poor the land commission took the land from ?

[@bill90405]

The Land Commission took it from the Protestant landowners.

[@simonvaughan788]

Thsts about 70ft long

[@outoftownr3906]

Looks like it’s been there 50 years 🤣

[@jamesdaly1401]

If he did that today you have more environment groups ands government red tape to deal with it wouldn't happen.

[@johnmccasthy6153]

Sure was woth it

[@nottooherbal]

But Kwai I hear you cry ?

[@jamesfagan7823]

Farmers hair such an amazing thing the result of the wife cutting their hair in the kitchen, however he can engineer a bridge without planning permission amazing if I did that build a bridge I would be in jail having my hair cut by someone with a big moustache in the kitchen horrible thought 😀

[@What..a..shambles]

Can you imagine the health and safety and environmental impact studies if he tried it today ...progress 🙄

[@alastairward2774]

Yes, that actually is progress thank you.

[@scan865]

He'd get jail today

[@noelmaher4633]

Ahh Ireland, when its citizens didn't depend on its Tik Tok politicians...Komittees, Quangos, impact reports, phone Joe, Tuberties have you any sick relatives, crying on TV, and again full heads of hair!

[@grlfcgombeenhunter2897]

Miss old Ireland 🇮🇪

[@alastairward2774]

And yet until the 80s Ireland was a real backwater where people still emigrated en masse and everyone who was left behind was poor. Your quality of life was bizarrely better in many ways up North at the time, *that's* how great it was.

[@click_gaming4277]

@@alastairward2774 But look at us now. One of the highest GDPs per capita in the whole world. People so well off they literally crib and pine for olden less fortuitous times as an ironic past time. It’s almost like it took awhile after we got our independence to flourish. Hmmmm. Something tells me though Alastair, you don’t share that sentiment.

[@JW93.]

Well done for building it himself and the politician commended him for it. Imagine you built one these days there would be murder for not getting planning permison, surveryors etc , proberly get locked up🤣

[@harrynewman9922]

What pack thick paddy’s lol

[@KittySofttpaws]

You can't even type a proper sentence you silly little English sausage. *What pack thick paddy's lol* I think you meant "what a pack of thick Paddy's" you tea slurping, crumpet munching peasant to the Queen.

[@32ewing]

bridge over the river kwi 🤣😂

[@michaelocon4745]

Lovely story. People are resourceful and problem solvers. But imagine if he did it today - he'd end up in gaol ! He'd have to consult the planners, the fishery board, an taisce, the greens and a host of other parasitic professions who would delay the project by several generations and add millions to the cost. Such is the price of "progress"

[@alastairward2774]

Terrible this thing we like to call lawful society.

[@mizzyroro]

Why do the Irish call rivers by their last name like River Suck instead of Suck River like the rest of the world?

[@qwopiretyu]

I thought this was a Monty Python Sketch. When the classical music kicked in I knew the BBC was far sillier than those boys could try and make it.

[@limericksfinest4680]

Why does every politician look corrupt

[@jameshaywood878]

Because they probably are, is there one that can be trusted, only in it to make crooked money for themselves.

[@martin7955]

Drainage scheme? You mean wrecking our rivers