Kielder Viaduct consists of seven semi-circular masonry

skew arch A skew arch (also known as an oblique arch) is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its ...

es and was built in 1862 by 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 ...

to carry the Border Counties Line across marshy land, which following flooding to create

Kielder Water Kielder Water is a large man-made reservoir in Northumberland in North East England. It is the largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom by capacity of water and it is surrounded by Kielder Forest, one of the biggest man-made woodlands in E ...

, became the place where Deadwater Burn joins

Bakethin Reservoir Bakethin Reservoir is a reservoir immediately upstream of Kielder Water, in Northumberland, England, close to the border with Scotland. It is fed by the River North Tyne and lies southeast of Kielder village. The reservoir is created by the we ...

. Now closed to rail traffic, the bridge is currently used as a footpath.

History

The viaduct was conceived in a joint project of the

Border Counties Railway The Border Counties Railway was a railway line connecting in Northumberland, with on the Waverley Route in Roxburghshire. Its promoter had hopes of exploiting mineral resources in the area, and it was taken up by the North British Railway, ...

and the North British Railway as part of the former's extension to in Scotland. The project was completed in 1862 but the Border Counties Railway had been absorbed by the North British Railway two years earlier. In order to meet with the approval of local landowner the

Duke of Northumberland Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke ...

who had a shooting lodge nearby, the viaduct was built in a

Baronial Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

style and decorated with a battlemented parapet and faux

arrow slits An arrowslit (often also referred to as an arrow loop, loophole or loop hole, and sometimes a balistraria) is a narrow vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows or a crossbowman can launch Crossbow bolt, bolts ...

. Robert Nicholson had been the engineer responsible for building the first section of the line but, on his death in 1855, his nephew John Furness Tone (1822–1881) took on the task of completing the project and it was under his direction that contractors William Hutchinson and John Ridley built the viaduct. The arches are constructed at a skewed angle and the stones are laid along helical courses, according to a set of principles attributed to architect and mathematician Peter Nicholson. The railway company had hoped to tap the coal traffic from Plashetts colliery that opened nearby in the 1850s but this proved disappointing, although there was some traffic from forestry in the area. Passenger traffic was always limited, though the line did open up the North Tyne valley and was in part responsible for the increase in population there. The North British Railway, therefore, gained its own route between

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

via

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

but it compared poorly with the route via Berwick, taking almost five hours to complete the journey. On 1 January 1923 ownership of the viaduct, along with the rest of the line, passed to the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

and thence to the North Eastern region of

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948. The line through Kielder lost its passenger service on 15 October 1956 and closed completely on 1 September 1958 and the viaduct's future became uncertain when the £167 million Kielder reservoir project was begun in 1976, a substantial part of the route of the old line being lost under the waters. However, steps were taken by the Northumberland and Newcastle Society to protect the viaduct itself by encasing the bases of its piers in concrete and waterproofing the bridge deck. The structure is now a

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

and forms part of a footpath from which walkers can enjoy the views from the top of its arches.

References

{{river item box Railway bridges in Northumberland Skew bridges Bridges completed in 1862 1862 establishments in England Former railway bridges in the United Kingdom Stone arch bridges