Durham Viaduct is a

grade II* listed 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 Irel ...

railway

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 v ...

in the City of Durham in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, in

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

. The viaduct is an important local landmark, and carries the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

railway, it is 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 N ...

. The viaduct is long, and tall, and consists of eleven arches. It is made from sandstone with

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 Vitruv ...

dressings, and brick soffits. The viaduct dates from

1857 Events January–March * January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, ''Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. * January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating. * Janua ...

, and was probably built by Thomas Elliot Harrison for the North Eastern Railway. It was originally part of a branch line, the Durham to Bishop Auckland Line, however it was later incorporated into what became the East Coast Main Line, when two new lines were opened to

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

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. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

to the south in 1872. The viaduct became grade II* listed in 1970.

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