Lockwood Viaduct is a stone railway bridge that carries the Huddersfield to Penistone Line across the

River Holme The Holme of the Holme Valley, West Yorkshire, England is a tributary of the River Colne, West Yorkshire. The source is via Digley Reservoir, fed firstly by the run-off from Brownhill Reservoir, then by Dobbs Dike. Banks along the upper vall ...

, in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. The viaduct is noted for its height, (being an average of high, but at its maximum, to the top of the parapet level, it is ), leading one journalist to describe it as "One of the most stupendous structures of ancient or modern times." One local challenge has been to "lob" a cricket ball over the viaduct, with some claiming that they have. The viaduct was completed in 1848 and is now 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 ...

structure.

History

Lockwood Viaduct is a stone built railway viaduct that straddles the River Holme, the B6108 and the A616, in the village of Lockwood, near

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

in West Yorkshire. The viaduct was built between 1846 and 1848 by the

Huddersfield and Sheffield Junction Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the ...

(to a design by

John Hawkshaw Sir John Hawkshaw FRS FRSE FRSA MICE (9 April 1811 – 2 June 1891), was an English civil engineer. He served as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1862-63. His most noteworthy work is the Severn Tunnel. Early life He was born ...

) carrying their railway south to Penistone and the branch to Holmfirth. The viaduct consists of 32 stone arches, the tallest of which is in height to the rail level, with a skew arch at either end. Each of the 32 arches is across, whereas the two larger skew arches are and . The rock and spoil for the viaduct came from cuttings dug out for the railway to the south of the viaduct; Taylor Hill cutting, which is long and deep. A description by Hawkshaw himself describes the sandstone varying from to in thickness. The viaduct cost £33,000 in 1849, (), £3,000 of which was spent on the timber frames for the masonry. The viaduct is shown as being long, straddling the River Holme, and whilst it was built for two tracks, only the northbound track is in use for both directions. The 36-arch viaduct has been described as "soaring", especially when viewed from the ground level looking up. George Searle Phillips (a Huddersfield journalist in the 19th century), described it as being "One of the most stupendous structures of ancient or modern times. The impression is almost irresistible that it is the work of demi-gods and giants." The height from river level to the top of the parapet of the viaduct is . The entire width of the viaduct at rail level is , with the internal width being .

Cricket ball lobs

One historical challenge regarding the viaduct is that of succeeding in throwing (or lobbing), a cricket ball over the viaduct. The challenge of the viaduct's height and width ( and respectively), means that the lob must be thrown to a height of to succeed. Some stories relate a train arriving at with a cricket ball on the train that had come in through an open wndow (or smashed through). However, a railway historian cast doubt on this, and the local paper, in the interests of health and safety, dissuaded readers from trying to emulate the feat.

Notes

References

Sources

External links