Nidd Viaduct

For the viaduct over the Nidd at Knaresborough, see Knaresborough Viaduct.

The viaduct, in 2014

The Nidd Viaduct, also known as the Bilton Viaduct, is a former railway viaduct in Bilton, a village in North Yorkshire, in England.

In 1845, the Leeds and Thirsk Railway received permission to construct a line north from Leeds Wellington railway station to Thirsk railway station.[1] At Bilton, the line had to cross the Nidd Gorge, and work on a viaduct started in 1846,[2] designed by John Cass Birkinshaw.[3] It was constructed of gritstone slabs quarried from the side of the gorge. The viaduct was completed in 1847,[2] and the first train crossed it in 1848.[4] The line closed in 1969,[5] but the viaduct was retained, and was grade II listed in 1987.[6] It is now crossed by the Nidderdale Greenway cycle route.[7]

The viaduct is built of gritstone, and consists of seven round arches, three of them over the river. The piers have plinths and rusticated quoins. The arches have massive voussoirs, and there are moulded bands at impost and track levels. The parapet has flat moulding, and the end piers have projecting coping.[6][3] The viaduct is 104 feet (32 m) high, and 448 feet (137 m) long.[8]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nidd Viaduct.
  1. ^ Hoole, K. (1974). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume IV The North East. David & Charles. ISBN 0715364391.
  2. ^ a b Cowen, Rob (2016). Common Ground: Encounters with Nature at the Edges of Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226424262.
  3. ^ a b Leach, Peter; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009), Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-12665-5
  4. ^ "Bilton Viaduct". Forgotten Relics of an Enterprising Age.
  5. ^ Newton, Grace (23 August 2022). "Yorkshire sausage brand Heck reinstates lost section of Leeds to Northallerton railway line that closed in 1969". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  6. ^ a b Historic England. "Nidd Viaduct over River Nidd (1315340)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  7. ^ "Nidderdale Greenway - Harrogate to Ripley Cycle Route". Sustrans. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  8. ^ "Progress of Works: Leeds and Thirsk". Railway Chronicle. No. 224. 19 August 1848.