The Railway Through Woolmer Green
The boundary between Woolmer Green and Welwyn parishes is formed by the path of the East Coast Mainline railway. The small viaduct to the south of the Parish, at the end of Robbery Bottom Lane, follows the same basic design as the long Digswell Viaduct. It was designed by William Cubitt and built by Thomas Brassey between 1848 and 1850 for the sum of £4,643. There are seven arches with a height above the roadway of 17m and a length of 60m. The viaduct and the bridges over London Road and Heath Road are all original, dating from when the railway was first built, although they have been strengthened and the parapets raised.
Immediately to the south of the viaduct the railway enters the first of two tunnels (with a very short open section in the middle) between Woolmer Green and the station at Welwyn North. The first tunnel heading south was the site of a notorious accident in 1866.
There was a temporary railway halt at Woolmer Green during the war which was used by soldiers, but nowadays the nearest station is just down the road at Knebworth, built in 1884 at the request of Viscount Knebworth. Until then the railway was used as a means of transferring manure from all the stables in London to a convenient place in the country. Chutes were constructed so that the manure could be shovelled down on to the roads and the local farmers then picked it up to use as fertiliser.
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