Angarrack railway viaduct crosses the valley of the Angarrack River at Angarrack in west

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Geography

The eleven-arch granite-built viaduct carries the

Cornish Main Line The Cornish Main Line ( kw, Penn-hyns-horn Kernow) is a railway line in Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the famous Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash. It directly ...

railway across the steep-sided valley of the Angarrack River, a tributary of the

River Hayle A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

, between the present day stations of and . The village extends up the valley and under the viaduct.

History

The original viaduct at Angarrack was designed by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

for the

West Cornwall Railway The West Cornwall Railway was a railway company in Cornwall, Great Britain, formed in 1846 to construct a railway between Penzance and Truro. It purchased the existing Hayle Railway, and improved its main line, and built new sections between P ...

and was "... ''built wholly of timber on stone footings''". It was nearly long and high. The stone from the original Brunel footings was re-used to construct the sea wall on the approach to

Penzance railway station Penzance railway station serves the town of Penzance in west Cornwall, England. It is the terminus of the Cornish Main Line from Plymouth, from via , and is the southernmost railway station in Great Britain. The first station opened in 1852 ...

. Today, no evidence remains of Brunel's original structure. Building of the replacement commenced in January 1883 by Mr H Stevens of Ashburton, who also built the replacement viaducts at

Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea, Illogan a ...

and Guildford (west of Angarrack). A tram-road of a few hundred yards was laid to a nearby quarry owned by Mr Gregor to provide infill for the granite viaduct. The foundations were expected to be at least deep and the work would take two to three years. It was opened by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...

in 1888 and its eleven granite arches each have a span of . It is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

References

Source

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Angarrack Viaduct Bridges completed in 1885 Bridges by Isambard Kingdom Brunel Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall Industrial archaeological sites in Cornwall Rail transport in Cornwall Railway bridges in Cornwall Railway viaducts in Cornwall Hayle

Geography

History

See also

References

Source