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 border between the two countries, and was formerly one of the boundaries of the Debatable Lands. Liddel Water's source is beneat ...

between Kirkandrews, in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

, north-western England, and

Canonbie Canonbie ( gd, Canonbaidh) 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 ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Ki ...

, south-western Scotland. It is a

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 ...

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 An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

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. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) be ...

and faced in

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

. The arches are supported on tapering rectangular piers. The stonework has decorative channelling which continues diagonally through the

soffit A soffit is an exterior or interior architectural feature, generally the horizontal, aloft underside of any construction element. Its archetypal form, sometimes incorporating or implying the projection of beams, is the underside of eaves (to ...

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 a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...

at the very beginning of its branch from

Riddings Junction Riddings is a large village in Derbyshire, England. The appropriate ward of the Amber Valley Council is called Ironville and Riddings. The population of this ward as at the 2011 census was 5,821. It is located south of Alfreton near the hamlet o ...

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 no ...

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

in Kirkandrews-on-Esk in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

to the north bank near

Rowanburn Rowanburn is a hamlet in Eskdale, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Located near Canonbie, it sits around 5 miles south-east of Langholm and about a mile from the Anglo-Scottish border. Rowanburn was founded as a coal mining community in the lat ...

, in the parish of

, Dumfries and Galloway. It opened on 18 March 1864 and closed, with the rest of the line, on 18 September 1967; 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.

References

{{Reflist 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

Description

History

See also

References