Bunlahinch Clapperbridge is a very unusual feature in the west of Ireland. Clapperbridges are a pre-historic form of stone-built bridge made of small stone piers or pillars spanned by flat stone slabs or planks, designed as footbridges to cross wide, flat streams and rivers. The word clapper originally meant plank in the Sussex area of England, where there are many examples. This bridge was likely built in the 1840s or 50s as part of work carried out by the Irish Church Mission, a Protestant community or colony that was given the land rent free by the Marquis of Sligo, and the area is still known locally as The Colony.