Riddings Junction Viaduct

Last updated

Riddings Junction Viaduct
Viaduct over River Liddel - geograph.org.uk - 280061.jpg
Coordinates 54°53′08″N2°49′26″W / 54.885534°N 2.823778°W / 54.885534; -2.823778 Coordinates: 54°53′08″N2°49′26″W / 54.885534°N 2.823778°W / 54.885534; -2.823778
Crosses Liddel Water
Locale Kirkandrews, Cumbria, England/Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
Heritage status listed building: grade A (Scotland), grade II* (England)
Characteristics
MaterialRed sandstone
Height23 metres (75 ft)
No. of spans9
Piers in water4
History
Opened1864
Closed1967
Location
Riddings Junction Viaduct

Riddings Junction Viaduct (or Riddings Viaduct) is a disused cross-border railway bridge over Liddel Water between Kirkandrews, in Carlisle, north-western England, and Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is a listed building in both countries; the Scottish section is category A listed, and the English section is Grade II*. [1] [2]

Contents

Description

The viaduct consists of nine semi-elliptical, depressed arches on an unusually sharp skew, crossing the river in a sweeping curve. It is built from local red sandstone and faced in ashlar. The arches are supported on tapering rectangular piers. The stonework has decorative channelling which continues diagonally through the soffits. A brick parapet and iron handrail were added in the late 20th century. [1] [2] The viaduct is 60 feet (18 metres) high and 160 yards (150 metres) long, each arch having a span of 44 feet (13 metres). [3] [4]

History

The viaduct was built for the North British Railway at the very beginning of its branch from Riddings Junction on the outskirts of Carlisle to Langholm in Scotland, part of the Waverley Route. The viaduct runs from the south bank of Liddel Water in Kirkandrews-on-Esk in Cumbria to the north bank near Rowanburn, in the parish of Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway. It opened on 18 March 1864 and closed, with the rest of the line, on 18 September 1967; the viaduct has been disused ever since. It carried a single track for its entire operational life; the rails were removed when the line closed. [1] [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumfriesshire</span> Historic county in Scotland

Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Esk, Dumfries and Galloway</span> River in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

The River Esk, also known as the Border Esk, is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, that enters the English county of Cumbria and flows into the Solway Firth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debatable Lands</span> Region in Great Britain

The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands, lay between Scotland and England. It was formerly in question as to which it belonged when they were distinct kingdoms. The name either signifies litigious or disputable ground, or it comes from the Old English word 'battable'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilnockie Tower</span>

Gilnockie Tower is a 16th-century tower house, located at the hamlet of Hollows, 2.3 km north of Canonbie, in Dumfriesshire, south-west Scotland. The tower is situated on the west bank of the River Esk. It was originally known as Hollows Tower.

Canonbie is a small village in Dumfriesshire within the local authority area of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, 6 miles south of Langholm and 2 miles north of the Anglo-Scottish border. It is on the A7 road from Carlisle to Edinburgh, and the River Esk flows through it. There are frequent references in older documents to it as Canobie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solway Junction Railway</span> Former railway line in Scotland

The Solway Junction Railway was built by an independent railway company to shorten the route from ironstone mines in Cumberland to ironworks in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castleton, Scottish Borders</span> Village in Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK

Castleton is a civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former Roxburghshire, in the extreme south of the Borders area. It is bounded by Northumberland (England), Dumfries and Galloway, and the parishes of Hobkirk, Southdean and Teviothead. The village of Castleton was commenced in 1793. It was built as a result of the land clearances in the 1790s when people were forced to move from Old Castleton village. While the parish retained the name Castleton, the village later became identified as New Castleton or Newcastleton. The parish is also known by its older name Liddesdale

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corby Bridge</span> Bridge in Cumbria, England

Corby Bridge is a railway viaduct adjacent to and immediately east of Wetheral railway station at Wetheral, near Carlisle, in north-western England, begun in 1830 and completed in 1834. It is 920 feet (280 m) long and 100 feet (30 m) high, and has been a Grade I listed building since 1 April 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodroad Viaduct</span>

The Woodroad Viaduct, also known as Bank Viaduct or Templand Viaduct, is a viaduct carrying the Glasgow South Western Line over the Lugar Water at Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. Since April 1971, it has been recognised as being a category A listed building.

Kirkandrews-on-Esk is a civil parish in the Carlisle district of Cumbria, England. It contains 13 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, three are listed at Grade II*, the middle of the three grades, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish is almost completely rural. The listed buildings consist of two farmhouses, a former tower house with associated structures, a former toll house, a church, a railway viaduct, and six milestones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirkandrews-on-Esk</span> Human settlement in England

Kirkandrews, is a civil parish in City of Carlisle district, Cumbria, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Moat. At the 2011 census it had a population of 493.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirkandrews, Dumfries and Galloway</span> Hamlet in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Kirkandrews, sometimes written as Kirkanders in older documents, is a coastal hamlet about 9 kilometres (6 mi) west-southwest of Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It sits in farmland at the head of Kirkandrews Bay, an inlet of Wigtown Bay.

Kirkandrews or Kirkanders may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corseyard Farm</span> Architecturally unusual dairy farm

Corseyard Farm, known locally as the Coo Palace and now marketed under that name, is an architecturally unusual dairy farm near Kirkandrews in Scotland, built between 1911 and 1914 and since converted into holiday accommodation. Erected for the Manchester businessman James Brown as part of a series of flamboyant improvements to the Knockbrex Estate, which he had bought in 1894, it was designed in the Gothic Revival style to resemble a fortified castle with battlemented roofs, arrowslit windows and arched entrances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Bridge</span> 19th-century road bridge in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

The Ken Bridge is a road bridge about 0.8 kilometres (0.5 mi) north east of New Galloway in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, which carries the A712 road over the Water of Ken towards Balmaclellan. Designed by John Rennie shortly before his death, it has been designated a Category A listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duchess Bridge</span> 19th-century cast-iron footbridge in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

The Duchess Bridge is a cast iron footbridge over the River Esk in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It was built for Charles Montagu-Scott, 4th Duke of Buccleuch by William Keir Junior of Millholm to replace a dilapidated wooden bridge in the grounds of his mansion Langholm Lodge, which has since been demolished. The bridge, which is probably the oldest surviving iron bridge in Scotland, is still in use as part of a public walkway through the grounds of the estate, and has been designated a Category A listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gelt Bridge</span> Bridge in Carlisle, England

The Gelt Bridge or Gelt Viaduct is a skew arch railway viaduct in the parish of Hayton, east of Carlisle in Cumbria, north west England. Built from 1832, it is one of the earliest and largest skew bridges in Britain. It is a Grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corby Viaduct</span> Bridge in Cumbria, England

Corby Viaduct is a railway bridge built to carry the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway over the Corby Beck near Great Corby, in the parish of Wetheral, to the east of Carlisle in north-western England. One of the largest structures on the route, it is a grade II listed building.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Riddings Junction Viaduct (1268307)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Historic Environment Scotland. "Riddings Junction Viaduct, Over Liddel Water (LB3533)" . Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  3. Biddle, Gordon (2011). Britain's Historic Railway Buildings: A Gazetteer of Structures (second ed.). Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan. p. 663. ISBN   9780711034914.
  4. McFetrich, David (2019). An Encyclopaedia of British Bridges (Revised and extended ed.). Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. p. 251. ISBN   9781526752956.