Porthkerry Viaduct is a railway

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

near

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

in the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...

, Wales. The viaduct was designed and engineered by

James Szlumper Sir James Weeks Szlumper JP DL (29 January 1834 – 27 October 1926) was an English civil engineer. He was Chief Engineer on a number of key railway engineering projects in the Victorian era. Biography Szlumper was born in Westminster to Albe ...

and William Szlumper, and was contracted to the Pethick Brothers to be built in the late nineteenth century in order to carry the Vale of Glamorgan Railway between Tondu via Coity Junction

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

and Barry Docks. Construction started in 1894, but on 18 August 1896 it was observed that No.9 pier showed signs of settlement and on 20 August, No.10 also settled. Over the course of three days, No.9 pier had sunk 4ft-6in and No.10, 3ft-6in into the ground, delaying construction as three arches became so distorted that they had to be taken down. Subsequently, Nos.10 & 12 piers had to be underpinned and No.11 pier reconstructed. The viaduct was opened on 1 December 1897, but by 16 December it was observed that the embankment at the Barry end was slipping away and had moved pier No.15 slightly and so Nos.13,14 & 15 footings were repacked with stone to stabilise the embankment. However, on 10 January 1898, an indentation in the track above pier No.13 was observed and traffic was immediately stopped following which, the pier was gradually pushed forward by the embankment and had sunk 13 inches. A two and a half mile loop line diversion was quickly built around the north-west of the valley, whilst repairs and underpinning were entrusted to Price and Wills, builders of the No.2 dock in

. The viaduct eventually re-opened on 8 January 1900. The viaduct has sixteen arches, 13 at 50ft(15.3metres) and at the Barry end, 3 at 45ft(13.8 metres) span and rising to a height of 110 feet (33 metres) and nowadays spans the north-west end of Porthkerry Park. It became Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

in 1963. Originally designed as a route to bring coal to

Barry Docks Barry Docks ( cy, Dociau'r Barri) is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. They were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alterna ...

, the railway now carries a passenger service and some freight traffic between Cardiff and Bridgend when engineering occupations are necessary on the South Wales main line via St.Fagans. Heavy coal traffic to the merry-go-round coal discharge system at

Aberthaw Power Station Aberthaw Power Station refers to two decommissioned coal-fired and co-fired biomass power stations on the coast of South Wales, near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. They were located at Limpert Bay, near the villages of Gileston and West Aberth ...

ceased by August 2019 and the "B" power station was officially closed in December 2019. Passenger trains run between

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

Cardiff Airport Cardiff Airport ( cy, Maes Awyr Caerdydd) is the only airport offering commercial passenger services in Wales. It has been under the ownership of the Welsh Government since March 2013, operating at an arm's length as a commercial business. ...

and

via Llantwit Major. The Porthkerry Viaduct was designed to be an exact copy of the Shillamill Viaduct spanning the river Lumburn at Gullworthy, north of

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

but in fact now barren of track on a dismantled railway and also a listed structure, the Shillamill viaduct is laid on a gentle curve and has only 12 arches. Watercolour artist

Thomas Frederick Worrall Thomas Frederick Worrall (1872–1957) was a Staffordshire-born manual worker and talented watercolourist. He lived for a time in Lancashire and in the upper Calder Valley area of Yorkshire but spent most of his adult life in Barry, Vale of Gla ...

lived in Barry from 1913, and painted Porthkerry Viaduct.

References

{{coord, 51.3935, -3.3178, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Barry Railway Bridges completed in 1897 Grade II listed bridges in Wales Railway viaducts in Wales Bridges in the Vale of Glamorgan