Markland Grips Viaduct

Markland Grips Viaduct [1]
Coordinates	53°16′10.89″N1°14′13.56″W / 53.2696917°N 1.2371000°W / 53.2696917; -1.2371000 (Markland Grips Viaduct)
Carries	Ex-Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway
Crosses	Markland Grips Gorge
Locale	Between Clowne and Creswell, Derbyshire
Characteristics
Design	6 stone arches
Width	Twin Standard Gauge Rail
History
Opened	16 November 1896 [2]
Closed	9 January 1967 [3]
Location

Markland Grips Viaduct is a former railway viaduct south east of Clowne, Derbyshire, England.

v t e Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway
Legend
Chesterfield (Market Place) Boythorpe Viaduct over MR Brampton Branch and Boythorpe Railway   Horns Bridge over Midland Main Line GCR Chesterfield Loop River Rother Duckmanton Tunnel Great Central Main Line Arkwright Town Arkwright Town Jct (1907) River Doe Lea Doe Lea Viaduct over MR Doe Lea Branch Bolsover South Bolsover Tunnel Scarcliffe Summit MML to St Pancras Sheffield Midland Attercliffe Road (MR) Rotherham Masborough West Tinsley (SDR) Catcliffe (SDR) Rotherham Masborough Treeton (MR) Woodhouse Mill (MR) Beighton (GCR) Beighton Junction Killamarsh West (MR) Beighton (GCR) Upperthorpe and Killamarsh Spinkhill Spinkhill Tunnel Clowne South Summit Markland Grips Viaduct Creswell and Welbeck Shirebrook North (Originally Langwith Junction) Langwith Junction shed Shirebrook South GNR to Nottingham Victoria (1901) Shirebrook West MR (now Robin Hood Line) Nottingham Midland to Worksop Warsop Clipstone Colliery Sidings Mansfield Railway to Nottingham Victoria (from 1917) Edwinstowe Ollerton Boughton Tuxford Central Tuxford Works Tuxford shed Dukeries Junction GNR (now ECML) Kings Cross to Retford Fledborough Fledborough Viaduct over River Trent Clifton-on-Trent Doddington and Harby Skellingthorpe GN&GEJR to Saxilby Pyewipe Junction Lincoln to Peterborough

Context

The viaduct carried the LD&ECR's double-track Langwith Junction to Sheffield Beighton Branch over a limestone gorge known as "Markland Grips". It was situated midway between the former Clowne South and Creswell and Welbeck railway stations. Opened in 1896, it had six equal stone arches.

Timetabled passenger services over the viaduct ended in September 1939 but summer weekend excursions from Manchester Central to Yarmouth Vauxhall and Sheffield Victoria to Skegness continued until 1964. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

Traffic on the line was mostly freight, especially coal but it was used as a relief and diversionary route for Sheffield - Lincoln traffic and for Great Central Main Line. As traffic declined so did the need for the Beighton Branch. Coal was carried on the branch from three collieries by the 1960s - Creswell and Langwith at its southern end and Westthorpe (Killamarsh) at its northern end. The north Nottinghamshire "superpits" sent most of their output to power stations in the Trent valley to the east. By the mid-1960s the Great Central was in terminal decline and traffic over the Beighton Branch could be accommodated on what is now the Robin Hood Line. When the M1 motorway was extended northwards, it would have required an expensive bridge to cross the Beighton Branch. The viaduct had required extensive strengthening for some time. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11]}

The viaduct was reinforced by cross members and then by cross members plus beams. These measures were to counteract the effects of mining subsidence. Finally a concrete "tunnel" was built for wheeled and foot users and the viaduct was buried under spoil to turn it into an embankment.

A new connection across fields south of Creswell and Welbeck station was built to connect the Beighton Branch to what is now the Robin Hood Line. The Beighton Branch became redundant and was closed on 9 January 1967 across Markland Grips Viaduct, through Clowne to Spinkhill Tunnel. ^[3] The tracks were lifted. Langwith Colliery's output continued to go south over the southern section until 8 September 1969, after which it went via the Robin Hood line. Westthorpe's went north over the northern section until the colliery closed in 1984.

After closure railway land was sold and the trackbed was used to access the viaduct site which was mined for limestone. These operations finished about 1973. The concrete tunnel was still in place in 2012. ^[12]

Modern times

Clowne South station site was for a number of years a community skate park, but after much antisocial behaviour, this was removed, the land sold and houses built on it instead. The railway trackbed from there southeastwards towards the site of Markland Grips Viaduct is the publicly accessible Clowne Linear Park. The trackbed south of the viaduct site to Creswell is used as a footpath, but its legal status is unclear.

Markland Grips is an SSSI managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, who list them as Hollinwell and Markland Grips. External links to relevant websites are given below.

References

1. Cupit & Taylor 1984, p. 46.
2. Dow 1965, p. 159.
3. Little 1995, p. 67.
4. Walker 1991, inside front cover.
5. Summer 1964 Working TimetableA: via flickr
6. Summer 1964 Working TimetableB: via flickr
7. Anderson & Cupit 2000, p. 53.
8. Markland Grips Viaduct(1) via Picture the Past
9. Markland Grips Viaduct(2) via Picture the Past
10. Markland Grips Viaduct(3) via Picture the Past
11. Markland Grips Viaduct(4) via Picture the Past
12. Booth 2013, p. 42.

Sources

• Anderson, Paul; Cupit, Jack (2000). An Illustrated History of Mansfield's Railways. Clophill: Irwell Press. ISBN   978-1-903266-15-1.
• Booth, Chris (2013). The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway A pictorial view of the "Dukeries Route" and branches. Blurb. 06715029.
• Cupit, J.; Taylor, W. (1984) [1966]. The Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway. Oakwood Library of Railway History (2nd ed.). Headington: Oakwood Press. ISBN   978-0-85361-302-2. OL19.
• Dow, George (1965). Great Central, Volume Three: Fay Sets the Pace, 1900–1922. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN   978-0-7110-0263-0. OCLC   500447049.
• Little, Lawson (1995). Langwith Junction, the Life and Times of a Railway Village. Newark-on-Trent: Vesper Publications. ISBN   978-0-9526171-0-5.
• Walker, Colin (1991). Eastern Region Steam Twilight, Part 2, North of Grantham. Llangollen: Pendyke Publications. ISBN   978-0-904318-14-2.

External links

• Markland Grips: on old OS map npemaps
• Markland Grips: Vegetation jstor
• Markland Grips: Nature Reserve peakdistrictview
• Markland Grips: Hill Fort megalithic
• Markland Grips: Burial Caves megalithic