The Sherbourne Viaduct is a railway bridge that carries the

Birmingham Loop Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

line across the

River Sherbourne The River Sherbourne is a river that flows under the centre of the city of Coventry, in the West Midlands, in England. The source of the river is in the fields near Hawkes End in the parish of Allesley. It flows for about 8 miles or 13 k ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

, central England. Built in 1838, it is a grade II

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 ...

Description

The Sherbourne Viaduct is located to the south east of Coventry city centre on the

line on the route to Rugby. By road, it is east of the A4114 London Road. The viaduct is built from red brick. It consists of one large central arch over the river flanked by three much smaller arches on either side. The bridge has a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

and

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the f ...

decoration which, along with the arches, are dressed 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 ...

. Smaller, pointed, arches are cut into the piers of the ancillary arches. The main arch is supported by very large

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s and similar pilasters are found at the terminating ends of the ancillary arches.

History

The viaduct was built in 1838 by

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father. ...

, chief engineer to the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, bet ...

. It is still in use as part of the

line. Much of the line was quadrupled in the 1960s but this work only went as far north as Rugby, meaning the Sherbourne Viaduct and other structures between Rugby and Coventry are in largely as-built condition. The Sherbourne Viaduct is one of several engineering works illustrated by

John Cooke Bourne John Cooke Bourne (1 September 1814 – February 1896) was a British artist, engraver and photographer,John Hannavy (2013) ''Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography.''. p. 196. best known for his lithographs showing the construction of the ...

in his ''Series of Lithographic Drawings on the London and Birmingham Railway'' and was the subject of another lithograph 1839. It was designated at grade II

in December 2015. It was listed for its age and its importance as a "skilful handling of the challenge of crossing the River Sherbourne", and for the involvement of Stephenson, "one of the most important transport engineers of the 19th century". Several other railway-related structures in Coventry were listed at the same time: (from east to west) the

Sowe Viaduct The Sowe Viaduct is a railway bridge on the Birmingham Loop line crossing the River Sowe at the south-eastern edge of Coventry in central England. Built in 1838, it is a Grade II listed building. Description The bridge carries the Birmingham Loop ...

, the portals of

Humber Road Tunnel The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...

, and

Mile Lane Bridge Mile Lane Bridge is a road-over-rail bridge in Coventry, central England. It is possibly the first use of a flying arch over a railway cutting and is a Grade II listed building. Description Mile Lane runs roughly south from Coventry ring road and ...

. In 2018, proposals were put forward to turn the lands around the Charterhouse, including the footpath along the Sherbourne and under the viaduct into a public park, which would make the viaduct less secluded and allow it to be better appreciated.

References

{{commons category Grade II listed bridges Bridges completed in 1838 Railway bridges in the West Midlands (county) 1838 establishments in England Bridges in Coventry London and Birmingham Railway

Description

History

See also

References