Wharncliffe Viaduct - Design

Design

Constructed of engineering brick, this 886-foot-long (270 m) Georgian viaduct has eight semi-elliptical arches, each spanning 70 feet (21 m) and rising 17.5 feet (5.3 m). It is 55 feet (17 m) wide. The supporting piers are hollow and tapered, rising to projecting stone cornices that held up the arch centring during construction.

When built, the viaduct was designed to carry two broad gauge tracks: the piers were 30 feet (9.1 m) wide at ground level and 33 feet (10 m) at deck level.

The contractor was the partnership of Thomas Grissell and Samuel Morton Peto. The cost was £40,000. The foundation works were carried out by William Brotherhood and his son Rowland. The young Charles Richardson also worked here under Brunel, as one of his first works for the Great Western.

As travel by rail became more popular and rail traffic grew, pressure mounted to have an additional local line. Also, the Gauge Act of 1846 decreed that George Stephenson's (narrower) standard gauge should be the standard used for all railways across the country. Therefore, in 1877 the viaduct was widened by the addition of an extra row of piers and arches on the north side. Then in 1892 the broad gauge track was converted to standard gauge, and this allowed enough width for four standard gauge tracks.

On the central pier on the south side is a carving of the coat of arms of James Stuart Wortley Mackenzie, Lord Wharncliffe, who was chairman of the parliamentary committee that steered the passage of the GWR Bill through Parliament.