Alston Arches Viaduct, also known as Haltwhistle Viaduct, is a former railway bridge across the River South Tyne at

Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Carlisle and west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census. Haltwhistle is the closest community to Hadrian's Wall and to Northum ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, north-east England. It was designed by Sir George Barclay Bruce for the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway's Alston branch and opened in 1852. It closed in 1976 and was re-opened for walkers and cyclists in 2006. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The bridge was built for the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (NCR) Company to carry its Alston line, a branch line which linked

and Alston in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

. The branch diverged from the Tyne Valley line (the NCR's main line) at Haltwhistle railway station and the Alston Arches was the first significant engineering work on the line. The viaduct was designed by Sir George Barclay Bruce. The line opened in 1851 and began full operation on 17 November 1852 when the viaduct was completed. It closed in 1976. The viaduct was the last major work of the NCR Company before the company was amalgamated into the North Eastern Railway in 1862. The viaduct is now owned by the North Pennine Heritage Trust, a conservation organisation. It underwent conservation work in the early 21st century and in July 2006 it re-opened as part of a walking and cycling trail. It was officially reopened by the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester ( ) is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curre ...

Description

The viaduct crosses the River South Tyne just east of Haltwhistle. It consists of six arches (four over the river flanked by two land arches) in rusticated, rock-faced sandstone quarried at Fourstones, further east along the South Tyne. It is on a gradient of 1:100 (climbing from the Haltwhistle direction) and is approached on an embankment. The river spans are skewed, segmental arches, each with a span of . The land arches are narrower and straight. The piers in the water and on the riverbanks have large, angled

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es on the outside, which terminate in moulded caps below the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

level. They rest on high semi-circular cutwaters. The parapet is low and marked with a

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

at track level. Round-headed relieving arches are cut into all the piers. There has been some suggestion that these were intended to take a footpath but no such path was ever built and there is no opening on the right bank of the river. The approach embankment was pierced by the A69 road in 1996 when it was built to bypass Haltwhistle. The viaduct is a Grade II

, first designated in 1987, which affords it legal protection. It, along with the nearby Lambley Viaduct, is a National Transport Trust Red Wheel site.

References

{{Authority control Railway bridges in Northumberland Crossings of the River Tyne Former railway bridges in the United Kingdom Haltwhistle Grade II listed bridges in England Grade II listed buildings in Northumberland