Castlefield Viaduct is a disused 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 va ...

built in 1892, which used to carry heavy rail traffic in and out of the

Great Northern Warehouse The Great Northern Warehouse is the former railway goods warehouse of the Great Northern Railway in Manchester city centre, England, which was refurbished into a leisure complex in 1999. The building is at the junction of Deansgate and Peter St ...

, located in the

Castlefield Castlefield is an inner-city conservation area in Manchester, North West England. The conservation area which bears its name is bounded by the River Irwell, Quay Street, Deansgate and Chester Road. It was the site of the Roman era fort of Mamu ...

area of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, England. It closed in 1969 and stood unused, though has been regularly maintained by

National Highways National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...

. The

Grade II listed 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 Ir ...

viaduct was designed by

Heenan & Froude Heenan & Froude was a United Kingdom-based engineering company, founded in Newton Heath, Manchester, England in 1881 in a partnership formed by engineers Richard Froude and Richard Hammersley Heenan. Expanded on the back of William Froude's ...

, the same engineering company behind

Blackpool Tower Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. When it opened, Blackpool Tower was the tallest man made structure in the British Empire. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in ...

. The viaduct is part of the Historical Railways Estate.

Sky park

Plans by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

to turn it into a '

sky park The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astrono ...

' were unveiled in June 2021, with the work starting in March 2022. The viaduct had a test-opening from summer 2022 to summer 2023, during which time visitors had free guided visits. In July 2023, the National Trust was granted an extension by

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three f ...

to keep the sky park open until autumn 2024. In addition, landscape architects BDP are to develop plans for the next phase of the viaduct.

References

{{reflist

External links

*National Trust
Castlefield Viaduct

A fly-through of Castlefield viaduct
Railway bridges in Greater Manchester Grade II listed bridges in Greater Manchester Great Northern Railway (Great Britain) Bridges completed in 1892 Parks and commons in Manchester Elevated parks Rail trails in England National Trust properties in Greater Manchester

Sky park

See also

References

External links