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Landmark · Galway city

Salmon Weir Bridge

Stand on the Salmon Weir Bridge in early summer and you can watch the salmon lying in the clear water below, waiting to run up past the weir. The bridge was not built for the view. It was built to march prisoners from the new courthouse on the east bank straight into the new gaol on Nun's Island, where the cathedral now stands, and for its first years it was simply the Gaol Bridge.

Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.

Galway, Salmon Weir Bridge.
Galway, Salmon Weir Bridge.
Ayounginsb, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Salmon Weir Bridge, Galway Courthouse, Galway Cathedral, Galway Gaol on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.

Morrison's bridge

William Vitruvius Morrison designed it, the son of Sir Richard Morrison who had designed the courthouse a few years before, and it went up at the same time as the salmon weir beside it. William Le Poer Trench laid the foundation stone on 29 June 1818 and the bridge opened in October 1819. It is on Galway City Council's Record of Protected Structures. By 1977 it was carrying a reported 1,200 vehicles an hour, and it remains the main road crossing between the courthouse side of town and the cathedral and university.

What is around it

The courthouse and the Town Hall Theatre face each other across Courthouse Square at the east end; Galway Cathedral, built on the site of the gaol the bridge served, fills the west end. The model on this page pins the bridge, the courthouse, the cathedral and the old gaol site, and the walk along the river to the Fisheries Field and the university is a few minutes.

Questions people ask

When was the Salmon Weir Bridge built?
The foundation stone was laid on 29 June 1818 and the bridge opened in October 1819.
Why is it called the Salmon Weir Bridge?
It was built beside the salmon weir on the Corrib; it was first called the Gaol Bridge because it linked the courthouse to Galway Gaol on Nun's Island.
Who designed the Salmon Weir Bridge?
William Vitruvius Morrison, whose father Sir Richard Morrison designed the courthouse at its eastern end.

Written from Wikipedia, "Salmon Weir Bridge" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.