The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede (from Irish Carraig a' Ráid, meaning 'rock of the casting').

The current wire rope and Douglas fir bridge was made by Heyn Construction in Belfast and raised early in 2008 at a cost of over £16,000.

[9] On 24 May 2017, a routine inspection revealed that the bridge's structural ropes had been damaged overnight in an act of vandalism.

At Carrickarede, the ancient volcanic pipe has left dolerite, a tougher rock than basalt, which erodes more slowly.

Behind the dolerite, to the south, the vent is filled with pyroclastic rocks that break down more easily, mostly a coarse tuff agglomerate.

[13] A plate of this bridge (Artist: Thomas Mann Baynes – Engraved by: J. Davies) appeared in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832, accompanied by a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) referring to a gentleman who is supposed to have lived on the island as a hermit at one time (possibly a rebel who had fled out of Scotland).