The Leaderfoot Viaduct, also known as the Drygrange Viaduct, is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

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 ...

over the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

near Melrose in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

History

The viaduct was opened on 16 November 1863 to carry the Berwickshire Railway, which connected Reston with

St Boswells St Boswells (; ) is a village on the south side of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, about southeast of Newtown St Boswells on the A68 road. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Roxburghshire. It has a hotel, pos ...

, via Duns and

Greenlaw Greenlaw is a town and civil parish situated in the foothills of the Lammermuir Hills on Blackadder Water at the junction of the A697 and the A6105 in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of ...

. The engineers of the railway were Charles Jopp and Wylie & Peddie. The railway was severely damaged by flooding during August 1948, with 7 bridges on the line failing, and the line closed to passenger traffic on 13 August 1948. Freight trains continued to run across the viaduct as far as Greenlaw until 19 July 1965. In 1981, the poor condition of the viaduct meant that it was due to be demolished. It was upgraded from Category B to A listing in 1986.

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

took over control of the viaduct from

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

in 1996.

Design

The amphitheatre at Trimontium - geograph

The viaduct stands from the floor of the river valley. The arches, each of span, are of

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by ...

, and the

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

s and walls are of rustic-faced red

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 ...

. Some later strengthening of the abutments and piers with old rails and

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 southern valley side is very obvious. It is straight over its whole course, and runs in a broadly northerly direction. The viaduct is in good condition, having been renovated between 1992 and 1995. Repairs included replacement of masonry and brickwork,

grout Grout is a dense substance that flows like a liquid yet hardens upon application, often used to fill gaps or to function as reinforcement in existing structures. Grout is generally a mixture of water, cement, and sand, and is frequently employe ...

ing, and underwater repair to one of the

cutwater A cutwater is the forward part of the prow or stem of a watercraft around the waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is paralle ...

s. It is near to the Roman settlement of Trimontium, which is to the south-west of the viaduct. To the east of the viaduct are the Drygrange Old Bridge, a road bridge dating from 1776, and its modern successor. This group of three bridges is sometimes known as Tripontium. To the east of the viaduct, the River Leader flows into the Tweed from the north.

In popular media

A portion of the 2023 film

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ''Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'' is a 2023 American action-adventure film directed by James Mangold and written by Mangold, David Koepp, Jez Butterworth, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. It is the fifth and final installment in Indiana_ ...

was filmed at the viaduct, although the scene was said to be located in Switzerland.

References

External links

{{River Tweed Railway bridges in Scotland Bridges in the Scottish Borders Category A listed buildings in the Scottish Borders Listed bridges in Scotland Viaducts in Scotland 1863 establishments in Scotland Bridges completed in 1863