Somerton Viaduct

Last updated

View of the Viaduct from land adjoining the River Cary Somerton Viaduct - geograph.org.uk - 1010683.jpg
View of the Viaduct from land adjoining the River Cary

The Somerton Viaduct is a historic railway viaduct in the town of Somerton in Somerset, England. It is situated on the Langport and Castle Cary Railway, known as the Castle Cary Cut-off, on the Reading to Taunton Line. It carries the railway over the River Cary. [1]

Somerton, Somerset Town in Somerset, England

Somerton is a town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset. It gave its name to the county and was briefly, around the start of the 14th century, the county town, and around 900 was possibly the capital of Wessex. It has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages, and the main square with its market cross is today an attractive location for visitors. Situated on the River Cary, approximately 8.8 miles (14.2 km) north-west of Yeovil, Somerton has its own town council serving a population of 4,697 as of 2011.

Somerset County of England

Somerset is a county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the south-west. It is bounded to the north and west by the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel, its coastline facing southeastern Wales. Its traditional border with Gloucestershire is the River Avon. Somerset's county town is Taunton.

The Langport and Castle Cary Railway is a railway line from Castle Cary railway station to Cogload Junction near Taunton, Somerset, England, which reduced the length of the journey from London to Penzance by 20 14 miles (32.6 km).

The viaduct was opened in 1906. [2] [3] The construction was overseen by Great Western Railway engineer P.A. Anthony. [4]

Great Western Railway Former railway company in the United Kingdom

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England, the West Midlands, and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft —later slightly widened to 7 ft 14 in —but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8 12 in standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which amalgamated it with the remaining independent railways within its territory, and it was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was nationalised and became the Western Region of British Railways.

Related Research Articles

Holborn Viaduct road bridge in London

Holborn Viaduct is a road bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it. It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street, in the City of London financial district, passing over Farringdon Street and the subterranean River Fleet. The viaduct spans the steep-sided Holborn Hill and the River Fleet valley at a length of 1,400 feet (430 m) and 80 feet (24 m) wide. City surveyor William Haywood was the architect and the engineer was Rowland Mason Ordish.

South Somerset Non-metropolitan district in England

South Somerset is a local government district in Somerset, England.

Castle Cary English town

Castle Cary is a small market town and civil parish in south Somerset, England, 5 miles (8 km) north west of Wincanton and 8 miles (12.9 km) south of Shepton Mallet, at the foot of Lodge Hill and on the River Cary, a tributary of the Parrett.

Jubilee River

The Jubilee River is a hydraulic channel in southern England. It is 11.6 km (7.2 mi) long and is on average 45 metres wide. It was constructed in the late 1990s and early 2000s to take overflow from the River Thames and so alleviate flooding to areas in and around the towns of Maidenhead, Windsor, and Eton in the counties of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. It achieves this by taking water from the left bank of the Thames upstream of Boulter's Lock near Maidenhead and returning it via the north bank downstream of Eton, Berkshire. Although successful in its stated aims, residents of villages downstream claim it has increased flooding.

Bristol Harbour Railway transport company

The Bristol Harbour Railway is a heritage railway in Bristol, England operated by Bristol Museums Galleries & Archives. It runs for approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) along the south side of Bristol Harbour, starting at M Shed, stopping at the SS Great Britain, and ending at B Bond Warehouse, one of the large tobacco warehouses beside Cumberland Basin (51.4466°N 2.6213°W).

River Cary (Somerset) river in Somerset, United Kingdom

The River Cary is a river in Somerset, England.

Windsor & Eton Central railway station One of two Railway Stations serving Windsor, Berkshire

Windsor & Eton Central station is one of two terminal stations serving the town of Windsor, Berkshire, England. Although a small part is still a railway station, most of the station building has been converted into a tourist-oriented shopping centre, called Windsor Royal Shopping. It is situated on the High Street, almost immediately opposite Castle Hill, the main public entrance to Windsor Castle.

Somerton and Frome (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1983 onwards

Somerton and Frome is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by David Warburton of the Conservative Party.

Richmond Railway Bridge grade II listed steel bridge in London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, United kingdom

Richmond Railway Bridge in Richmond, south-west London crosses the River Thames immediately upstream of Twickenham Bridge. It carries National Rail services operated by South Western Railway on the Waterloo to Reading Line, and lies between Richmond and St. Margarets stations.

St. Julians railway bridge railway bridge in Newport, South Wales, UK

The St. Julian's railway bridge is a crossing of the River Usk close to the city of Newport, South Wales. It was opened in 1874 by the Pontypool, Caerleon and Newport Railway and currently carries the Welsh Marches Line across the river in a north—south direction. Due to the meanderings of the river, all the other crossings are east—west.

Digswell Viaduct

The Digswell Viaduct, also called Welwyn Viaduct, is a railway viaduct that carries the East Coast Main Line over the River Mimram and is a prominent local landmark. It is located between Welwyn Garden City and Digswell. It is just to the south of Welwyn North railway station.

Grimstone Viaduct Stratton, West Dorset, Dorset, DT2

The Grimstone Viaduct is a railway bridge on the Castle Cary-Weymouth "Heart of Wessex" line. It passes over the road from Grimstone to Sydling St. Nicholas and Sydling Water flows underneath it. It is in the hamlet of Grimstone at the western edge of the parish of Stratton, Dorset.

<i>Mont Sainte-Victoire</i> (Cézanne) painting series by Paul Cézanne

Mont Sainte-Victoire is a series of oil paintings by the French artist Paul Cézanne.

Penallt Viaduct Newland, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, NP25

Penallt Viaduct is a viaduct that formerly carried the Wye Valley Railway over the River Wye, which at this location forms the border between England (Gloucestershire) and Wales (Monmouthshire). The 14-mile Wye Valley Railway opened on 1 November 1876.

Exeter–Plymouth line central part of the trunk railway line between London Paddington and Penzance

The Exeter–Plymouth line, also called the South Devon Main Line, is a central part of the trunk railway line between London Paddington and Penzance in the southern United Kingdom. It is a major branch of the Great Western Main Line and runs from Exeter to Plymouth, from where it continues as the Cornish Main Line. It was one of the principal routes of the Great Western Railway which in 1948 became part of the Western Region of British Railways and are now part of the Network Rail system.

Bromford Viaduct elevated section of motorway in Birmingham, England

The Bromford Viaduct carries the M6 motorway between Castle Bromwich and Gravelly Hill along the River Tame valley in Birmingham, England. This elevated stretch of motorway above the Tame itself is 3 12 miles long, which makes it the longest viaduct in Great Britain, being a quarter mile longer than the Second Severn Crossing. It was constructed during the period 1964-1972.

Somerton railway station

Somerton railway station was a small railway station situated on the Great Western Railway's Langport and Castle Cary Railway. It served the town of Somerton in Somerset, England.

Somerton Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Somerset which is located between Somerton and Langport. It is situated on the Reading to Taunton Line. It was built by the GWR, and work finished in 1906, as part of the constructing of the Langport and Castle Cary Railway. The structure is just under a kilometre long.

References

  1. "Railway". Somerton Web Museum. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  2. "The Viaduct". Somerton. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  3. "River Cary & Railway". Somerton Web Museum. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  4. Langmaid, Nancy, (c2009) The Wooldridge Album, Somerton Viaduct

Coordinates: 51°03′33″N2°43′35″W / 51.0591°N 2.7263°W / 51.0591; -2.7263

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.