Riddings Junction Viaduct (or Riddings Viaduct) is a disused cross-border railway bridge over

Liddel Water Liddel Water is a river running through southern Scotland and northern England, for much of its course forming the Anglo-Scottish border, border between the two countries, and was formerly one of the boundaries of the Debatable Lands. Liddel ...

between Kirkandrews, 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 ...

, north-western England, and

Canonbie Canonbie () is a small village in Dumfriesshire within the local authority area of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, south of Langholm and north of the Anglo-Scottish border. It is on the A7 road from Carlisle to Edinburgh, and the Riv ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, south-western Scotland. It is a

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 ...

in both countries; the Scottish section is category A listed, and the English section is Grade II*.

Description

The viaduct consists of nine semi-elliptical,

depressed arch A basket-handle arch (also depressed arch or chop arch) is characterized by an intrados profile formed by a sequence of circular arcs, each tangent to its neighbors, resulting in a smooth transition between arcs. The simplest form, a three-cente ...

es on an unusually sharp

skew Skew may refer to: In mathematics * Skew lines, neither parallel nor intersecting. * Skew normal distribution, a probability distribution * Skew field or division ring * Skew-Hermitian matrix * Skew lattice * Skew polygon, whose vertices do not l ...

, crossing the river in a sweeping curve. It is built from local

red sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains, cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed o ...

and faced in

bullnose A bullnose is a broad convex radius on construction materials such as wood, masonry, and ceramic tile. The term is also used for materials featuring such a profile, as in a “bullnose tile”. It is also used in relation to road safety and (for ...

d (rounded)

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 ...

. The arches have channelled

voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...

s, a pattern which continues along the

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, and spring from prominent impost bands. They are supported on tapering rectangular piers at the base of which are narrow cutwaters. The stonework has decorative channelling which continues diagonally through the

s. A brick parapet and iron handrail were added in the late 20th century. The viaduct is high and long, each arch having a span of .

History

The viaduct was built for the

North British Railway The North British Railway was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, ...

at the very beginning of its branch from Riddings Junction on the outskirts of Carlisle to

Langholm Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits n ...

in Scotland, part of the

Waverley Route The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remaind ...

. The viaduct runs from the south bank of Liddel Water in Kirkandrews-on-Esk in Cumbria to the north bank near Rowanburn, in the parish of Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway. It opened on 18 March 1864 and closed, with the rest of the line, on 18 September 1967 as part of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

; the viaduct has been disused ever since. It carried a single track for its entire operational life; the rails were removed when the line closed. The viaduct is now part of the

Historical Railways Estate The Historical Railways Estate (HRE) is formed of over 3,100 structures—predominantly bridges, viaducts, tunnels and other works—associated with former railways in the United Kingdom. The structures are owned by the Department for Transport (Df ...

and maintained by

National Highways National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in Eng ...

. Restoration works were undertaken in 2024.

References

{{Railway bridges in Cumbria Category A listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Grade II* listed railway bridges and viaducts Grade II* listed buildings in Cumbria Railway bridges in Cumbria Railway bridges in Scotland Bridges completed in 1864 Anglo-Scottish border

Description

History

See also

References