The Midland Counties Railway viaduct (sometimes referred to as the Avon Viaduct and known locally as the Eleven Arches Viaduct) is a disused railway viaduct at Rugby, Warwickshire, which crosses over both the A426 Rugby to Leicester road, and the River Avon to the north of Rugby town centre. [1]
The viaduct is approximately 700 feet (210 metres) long and consists of eleven elliptical arches, 60 feet (18 metres) high and 50 feet (15 metres) wide. It is built of red brick, with a facing of Staffordshire blue bricks covering the entire structure apart from impost bands at the tops of the piers and a narrow cornice. It was one of the earliest large structures to make such extensive use of blue engineering bricks. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The double track viaduct was built in 1839 by Charles Blacker Vignoles as part of the Midland Counties Railway (MCR) and opened in 1840. It formed part of the MCR's line from Derby and Nottingham to Rugby via Leicester. From Rugby, MCR trains could join the London and Birmingham Railway to access London. The MCR also connected with other lines at its northern end, making the viaduct part of the main railway route from London to the East Midlands and Yorkshire for the first decade of its life, until more direct routes were opened. Besides a viaduct over the River Trent, the viaduct at Rugby was the only substantial bridge on the route and is the only one to survive in its original condition (the Trent viaduct was rebuilt as two bridges in the 1890s). It is one of the UK's oldest disused railway viaducts. [1] [2] [4]
The main line over the viaduct was closed in January 1962, but trains continued to use it until May 1965, serving the Oxford Canal basin at nearby Newbold-on-Avon. [1] [5]
After being derelict for decades, the viaduct was brought back into use as a footpath and cycleway in 2012, as part of a £1 million scheme by Rugby Borough Council and the cycling charity Sustrans, in order to create a traffic free route from Rugby town centre to the northern suburbs of Newbold and Brownsover, and the Brownsover industrial estate. [6] [1] [7] [5]
The viaduct gained Grade II listing in February 2000. It met the criteria for listing because of its "age, design quality, unaltered nature and its association with an important engineer and railway company". [2]
Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. At the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby, which had a population of 114,400 in 2021.
The Midland Counties' Railway (MCR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom which existed between 1839 and 1844, connecting Nottingham, Leicester and Derby with Rugby and thence, via the London and Birmingham Railway, to London. The MCR system connected with the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway in Derby at what become known as the Tri Junct Station. The three later merged to become the Midland Railway.
Warwickshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon and Victorian novelist George Eliot,, at Nuneaton. Other significant towns include Rugby, Leamington Spa, Bedworth, Kenilworth and Atherstone. The county offers a mix of historic towns and large rural areas. It is a popular destination for international and domestic tourists to explore both medieval and more recent history.
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This is about the history of the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
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The Rugby to Leamington Line was a railway line running from Rugby to Leamington Spa. It was a 15-mile (24 km) branch line built by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and opened in 1851. The branch connected Leamington with the mainline from London to Birmingham which had been opened in 1838 by the LNWR's predecessor, the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR).
National Cycle Route 4 is a route of the National Cycle Network, running from London to Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. Between these, the route runs through Reading, Bath, Bristol, Newport, Swansea and St David's. Within Wales, sections of the route follow branches of the Celtic Trail cycle route.
Brackley Central was a railway station on the former Great Central Main Line which ran from Manchester Piccadilly to London Marylebone, the last main line to be built from the north of England to London.
The Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway was a branch of the Midland Railway which ran from Ashchurch via Tewkesbury to Great Malvern in the United Kingdom. It was opened on 16 May 1864. At grouping in 1923 it became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway.
The Monmouth Viaduct or Chippenham Meadow Viaduct is a 20-arch 183m red sandstone viaduct, with two 23m steel lattice-girder spans over the river. It carried the Coleford, Monmouth, Usk & Pontypool Railway line across the River Wye at Monmouth, Wales. A further river crossing by the Ross and Monmouth Railway was later built nearby.
The River Swift is a 14-mile (23 km) long tributary of the River Avon that rises in south Leicestershire, and flows through the town of Lutterworth before joining the Avon at its confluence at Rugby in Warwickshire in the English Midlands.
The Nidderdale Greenway is a 4-mile (6.4 km) path that runs between Harrogate and Ripley in North Yorkshire, England. It uses a former railway line that ran between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge as its course. The route connects to other cycle paths including the Way of the Roses.
Brandon Viaduct is a railway viaduct crossing the River Avon between the villages of Brandon and Wolston in Warwickshire. It carries the Birmingham Loop line and is roughly half way between Rugby and Coventry. The bridge was built in around 1835 for the London and Birmingham Railway and is now a grade II listed building.
