Larpool Viaduct, also known as the Esk Valley Viaduct is a 13 arch brick viaduct built to carry the

Scarborough & Whitby Railway The Scarborough & Whitby Railway was a railway line from Scarborough to Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. The line followed a difficult but scenic route along the North Yorkshire coast. The line opened in 1885 and closed in 1965 as part of ...

over the River Esk,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History and description

The viaduct was constructed for the

Scarborough and Whitby Railway The Scarborough & Whitby Railway was a railway line from Scarborough to Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. The line followed a difficult but scenic route along the North Yorkshire coast. The line opened in 1885 and closed in 1965 as part of ...

to carry a single track line over the River Esk and valley near Whitby, as well as crossing the Esk Valley Railway, and

Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway The Whitby, Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway (WRMU), the Whitby–Loftus Line, was a railway line in North Yorkshire, England, built between 1871 and 1886, running from Loftus on the Yorkshire coast to the Esk at Whitby, and connecting ...

. Due to its situation close to the sea the design avoided the use of iron, using brick and cement construction; the design was based on the Saltburn Viaduct. Construction began in October 1882 and was complete by October 1884; two men fell from the piers during construction, but recovered. The resident engineer was Charles Arthur Rowlandson, the contractors were John Waddell and Sons. The viaduct is a 13 arch structure, long, with the rail level reaching high. The foundations on land were excavated to the level of rock, and formed from slag based cement. The river foundations were excavated in brick lined wells. The river foundation excavations were complicated by large oak trees found embedded in the river, which required divers for manual removal. Piers 5,7,8 and 9 had triple foundations, connected above the water level by two semicircular arches. Three of the piers in the river are skewed so as not to deflect the tidal flow (the River Esk is tidal as far as Ruswarp upstream). The main arches are wide, and high, made of bricks seven deep, . The width between the parapets is on straight sections. Services on the line ended in March 1965 as a result of the

Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...

. The viaduct became grade II listed in 1972. In 2000 much of the former line and the viaduct were opened to the public. By 2006 parts of the brickwork had become unsafe due to

spalling Spall are fragments of a material that are broken off a larger solid body. It can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure (as in a ball ...

, and the parts of the outer layer were replaced. As of 2012 the viaduct is part of the 'Scarborough to Whitby Rail Trail', also promoted as the "Scarborough to Whitby Cinder Track", a cycle route. The viaduct is mentioned in

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...

's 1897 novel ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

'': The viaduct is featured in the December 2007 episode of '' Heartbeat'' entitled ''"Another Sleepy, Dusty, Delta Day"''.

References

Sources

External links

{{Viaducts in Yorkshire Railway viaducts in North Yorkshire Deck arch bridges Grade II listed buildings in North Yorkshire Former railway bridges in the United Kingdom