Chapel Milton Viaduct

Chapel Milton Viaduct
Chapel Milton Viaduct
	East (left) and west (right) sections viewed from above the A624
Coordinates	53°20′01″N1°55′05″W / 53.333596°N 1.917985°W Coordinates: 53°20′01″N1°55′05″W / 53.333596°N 1.917985°W
Carries	Great Rocks Line
Crosses	Black Brook; A624
Locale	Chapel Milton, Derbyshire, England
Maintained by	Network Rail
Heritage status
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated	12 April 1984
Reference no.	1187176
Characteristics
Material	Gritstone ashlar
Total length	780 feet (240 m) (east)
Height	102 feet (31 m)
No. of spans	14 (east); 15 (west)
Rail characteristics
No. of tracks	Double track
Track gauge	Standard gauge
Electrified	No
History
Architect	William Henry Barlow
Constructed by	Echerley and Bayliss
Construction cost	£15,000
Opened	1867
Location
	Map of the triangular site and surrounding lines (click to enlarge)

Last updated March 28, 2022

Chapel Milton Viaduct is a Grade II listed bifurcated railway viaduct on the Great Rocks Line at its junction with the Hope Valley Line, straddling the Black Brook valley in Chapel Milton, Derbyshire, England. The first section of the viaduct, built by the Midland Railway in 1867, diverges and curves to the west while the second, built in 1890, curves to the east as the line, coming up from the south, links up with the main line between Sheffield and Manchester.

The viaduct is a significant and dominant structure within the small hamlet, which is largely characterised by its presence. It also passes over the Peak Forest Tramway, an early industrial railway operational from 1796. Since July 2019, an aerial shot of the double viaduct has featured in the opening titles of the regional news programme BBC North West Tonight .^[1]

Description

The viaduct has two curved arcades, converging to the south with fourteen arches to the east and fifteen to the west. The central arch of the western arcade is blocked with a blind venetian arch; it is filled with clay to help reduce vibration.^[2] It has tapering rectangular piers with a projecting string course at the top. All arches are stilted and voussoired, with a string course and parapet wall over, topped by projecting copings.^[3]

The masonry of the viaduct is composed of rubble work in regular courses, and the span of each arch is 42 feet (13 m). The gradient of the line over the viaduct is 1 in 90 throughout; at its highest point it is 102 feet (31 m) from water to rail level.^[4]

History

The Midland Railway opened a new line via Chapel-en-le-Frith Central and Great Rocks Dale, linking the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, in 1867, giving it an express through route for the first time between Manchester and London.^[5] The Midland's Engineer-in-Chief for the project was William Henry Barlow (known for designing the train shed at St Pancras at around the same time), and he designed, along with the rest of the structures on the line, the Chapel Milton Viaduct which curves to the west at the junction with the MS&LR. The fifteen-arch bridge was required to carry the railway across a deep valley formed by the Black Brook, which is a tributary of the River Goyt.

The stone was obtained from Black Edge Quarry, about two miles from the works. Some of the larger stones in the foundation were raised in Crist Quarry, Bugsworth. Several of the piers near the centre had to be carried down a depth of 45 feet (14 m) from the surface of the ground to ensure a sufficient foundation.^[6] According to a contemporary report in The Engineer , the viaduct cost £15,000 (equivalent to £1,358,000in 2020), given at the rate of 5s 3d per cubic yard; the contractors were Echerley and Bayliss of Victoria Street, Westminster.^[4]

The erection of this viaduct on the new line to Manchester will open up the shortest and most agreeable route to the "northern metropolis," and many passengers will probably travel by the Midland Railway in summer for the sake of the charming scenery, independently of the advantage of time and distance, as this line [...] runs through the choicest parts of the Derbyshire hills. The Midland extension leaves the Rowsley and Buxton line at about six miles below Buxton, and after a course of twelve miles through the mountains, close to the "peak" of Derbyshire, it forms a junction with the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Companies' new line from Manchester to Hayfield at New Mills. Through a country of such a character the railway, all might be expected, has large works, the principal of which are a tunnel one and a-half miles in length and the viaduct we have just described.
— The Engineer , January 1867^[4]

The eastern section, essentially a second, mirror-image viaduct in an identical style, was added in 1890 to allow trains to travel between Sheffield and the south via Buxton and the Midland's own line.^[3]

The viaduct is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II listed building, having been designated on 12 April 1984.^[3] Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing, and is applied to "buildings that are nationally important and of special interest".^[7]

A refurbishment of the western section was undertaken by the bridge's owner and maintainer Network Rail in 2017, with works including vegetation removal, repointing, localised stitch repair to cracks, and removal and replacement of localised areas of spalled brickwork.^[2]

Related Research Articles

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Peak Forest is a small village and civil parish on the main road the (A623) from Chapel-en-le-Frith to Chesterfield in Derbyshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 335.

Chapel Milton is a hamlet on the outskirts of Chapel-en-le-Frith on the road leading from there to Chinley and to Glossop. It takes its name from the site of a medieval corn mill, Maynstonfield Mill, or “Mainstonefield alias Chinley”. This mill was erected near a stream called Hockholme Brook, which is no longer marked though is thought to converge with the Black Brook at Chapel Milton. Originally built in 1391 for £12 4s 1d, the mill was demolished in 1946.

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The Monsal Trail is a cycling, horse riding and walking trail in the Derbyshire Peak District. It was constructed from a section of the former Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway, which was built by the Midland Railway in 1863 to link Manchester with London and closed in 1968. The Monsal Trail is about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) long and opened in 1981. It starts at the Topley Pike junction in Wye Dale, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Buxton, and runs to Coombs Viaduct, 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of Bakewell. It follows the valley of the River Wye. The trail passes through Blackwell Mill, Chee Dale, Millers Dale, Cressbrook, Monsal Dale, Great Longstone, Hassop and Bakewell. The trail has numerous landmarks including Headstone Viaduct, Cressbrook Mill, Litton Mill and Hassop railway station, and passes through six tunnels.

The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway (LD&ECR) was built to connect coalfields in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire with Warrington and a new port on the Lincolnshire coast. It was a huge undertaking, and the company was unable to raise the money to build its line. With the financial help of the Great Eastern Railway it managed to open between Chesterfield and Lincoln with a branch towards Sheffield from 1896. Despite efforts to promote tourist travel, the passenger business was never buoyant, but collieries were connected to the line, at first and in succeeding years. The Great Eastern Railway, and other main line companies, transported coal to the southern counties, and the company's engines took coal to Immingham in great quantities. The company had a fleet of tank engines.

The Great Rocks Line is a freight railway line in Derbyshire, England, that runs between the Hope Valley Line at Chapel Milton and the stone quarries and sidings at Peak Dale and Peak Forest, before looping around to the town of Buxton. It takes its name from the Great Rocks Dale through which it runs.

References

↑ BBC North West Today 2019 - Opening Titles 15 July 2019 on YouTube
1 2 Network Rail (February 2017). "Design, Access & Heritage Statement: Remedial Works to Chapel Milton Viaduct". Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
1 2 3 Historic England, "Railway Viaduct at Chapel Milton (Grade II) (1187176)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 2 May 2020
1 2 3 "Chapel Milton Viaduct, Midland Railway" (PDF). The Engineer . London. 11 January 1867. pp. 32–34.
↑ Williams, Frederick Smeeton (1876). The Midland Railway: Its Rise and Progress. London: Strahan & co. pp. 414–425.
↑ "The Chapel Milton Viaduct, Rowley and Buxton Extension, Midland Railway". The Illustrated London News . 23 March 1867. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
↑ Listed Buildings, English Heritage, archived from the original on 24 January 2013, retrieved 26 July 2014

External links

Drone flight over the viaduct on YouTube

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Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] BBC North West Today 2019 - Opening Titles 15 July 2019 on YouTube

[networkrail-2] 1 2 Network Rail (February 2017). "Design, Access & Heritage Statement: Remedial Works to Chapel Milton Viaduct". Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2020.

[nhle-3] 1 2 3 Historic England, "Railway Viaduct at Chapel Milton (Grade II) (1187176)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 2 May 2020

[engineer-4] 1 2 3 "Chapel Milton Viaduct, Midland Railway" (PDF). The Engineer . London. 11 January 1867. pp. 32–34.

[williams-5] Williams, Frederick Smeeton (1876). The Midland Railway: Its Rise and Progress. London: Strahan & co. pp. 414–425.

[victorianweb-6] "The Chapel Milton Viaduct, Rowley and Buxton Extension, Midland Railway". The Illustrated London News . 23 March 1867. Retrieved 2 May 2020.

[7] Listed Buildings, English Heritage, archived from the original on 24 January 2013, retrieved 26 July 2014

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