Durham Viaduct is a railway viaduct in the City of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

in north-eastern England. It carries the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

railway immediately south of

Durham railway station Durham is a railway station on the East Coast Main Line, which runs between and . The station, situated south of Newcastle, serves the cathedral city of Durham in County Durham, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by London Nor ...

History

The viaduct was built between 1854 and 1857 for the North Eastern Railway (NER). It was designed by

Thomas Elliot Harrison Thomas Elliot Harrison (4 April 1808 – 20 March 1888) was an English engineer. Born in Fulham, London, he was raised in the north east of England, where his father was a promoter of early railway companies; after an apprenticeship under Willi ...

, the NER's chief engineer and built by Richard Cail, a local contractor who was responsible for multiple works in the north-east. The viaduct was originally part of a branch line, the Durham to Bishop Auckland Line, but the main line was diverted over it when two new lines were opened—to

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

to the north, in 1868, and from Durham to Tursdale Junction and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

to the south in 1872. The route is now part of the

. The viaduct 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 ...

, first designated on 19 February 1970. This status grants it legal protection. Overhead masts were added in the late 20th century when the East Coast Main Line was electrified. Specially designed slender masts were used for the historic bridges on the route.

Design

The viaduct is long and and tall. It carries the railway over Durham city centre. It consists of eleven arches, supported on tapering piers. It is built from

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

with

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

dressings, and brick

soffit A soffit is an exterior architectural feature, generally the horizontal, aloft underside of the roof edge. Its archetypal form, sometimes incorporating or implying the projection of rafters or trusses over the exterior of supporting walls, is t ...

s in a design similar to the

Royal Border Bridge The Royal Border Bridge spans the River Tweed between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth in Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed railway viaduct built between 1847 and 1850, when it was opened by Queen Victoria. It was designed by Robe ...

further north on the same line. It has coped plinths at the top of the piers from which the arches spring and a continuous drip course in rock-faced stone. As-built, the viaduct had a stone-arched

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 ...

but this was later replaced with iron except over the end piers. Attached to the pier carrying the viaduct over North Road is a Gothic-style drinking fountain. The elevated position offers views of

Durham Castle Durham Castle is a Norman castle in the city of Durham, England, which has been occupied since 1837 by University College, Durham after its previous role as the residence of the Bishops of Durham. Designated since 1986 as a cultural World Heri ...

and

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

, especially when travelling north as the railway emerges from a high-sided cutting. According to the railway historian Gordon Biddle, the viaduct "is now as much a part of the dramatic townscape as the castle and the cathedral".

References

{{coord, 54.777908, -1.583973, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in Durham, England Grade II* listed buildings in County Durham Railway viaducts in County Durham East Coast Main Line