Willington Dene Viaduct carries the

Tyne and Wear Metro The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...

railway over the Wallsend Burn between

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

and Howdon, Tyne and Wear. Designed by architects

John and Benjamin Green John and Benjamin Green were a father and son who worked in partnership as architects in North East England during the early nineteenth century. John, the father was a civil engineer as well as an architect. Although they did carry out some commi ...

, it was originally built in the late 1830s for the

Newcastle & North Shields Railway The Newcastle & North Shields Railway opened in June 1839 from a temporary terminus in Carliol Square in Newcastle upon Tyne to North Shields. The railway was absorbed by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway in November 1844. The Newcastle & Berwick ...

. 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 Irel ...

. The viaduct is long and high with seven segmental arches each of span. When originally built the viaducts were made of laminated timber construction on the Wiebeking system supported on tall stone pillars and cost £25,000. Each arch was made from 14 layers of timbers held together by trenails and built by Messrs. Robson. A paper on the viaducts's design won Benjamin Green a silver

Telford Medal The Telford Medal is a prize awarded by the British Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for a paper or series of papers. It was introduced in 1835 following a bequest made by Thomas Telford, the ICE's first president. It can be awarded in gold ...

from the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

in 1841. The viaduct was rebuilt in iron between 1867 and 1869 by the

Weardale Iron & Coal Company The Weardale Iron and Coal Company, established in the 1840s, produced iron and steel at Tow Law and Tudhoe in County Durham in England, where it also owned collieries. History The founder of the company, Charles Attwood (1791–1875), was born in ...

to the designs of engineer

Thomas Elliot Harrison Thomas Elliot Harrison (4 April 1808 – 20 March 1888) was a British engineer. Born in Fulham, London, he was raised in the north east of England, where his father was a promoter of early railway companies; after an apprenticeship under William ...

, preserving the bridge's original shape and form. It now carries the

rapid transport system between Newcastle and North Shields.

References

{{coord, 54.993, -1.5075, display=title, type:landmark, name = Willington Dene Viaduct Railway bridges in Tyne and Wear Grade II listed buildings in Tyne and Wear John and Benjamin Green buildings and structures

See also

References