Sankey Viaduct

1831 view of the Viaduct
Sankey Viaduct and Sankey Brook in 2004

The Sankey Viaduct is a railway viaduct at Bradley Lane, Collins Green, Burtonwood parish, Warrington Borough, crossing the Sankey Brook into Earlestown, Newton le Willows, Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside.

History

The viaduct was built between 1828 and 1830 by George Stephenson for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company to enable the railway to cross the line of the Sankey Canal with sufficient clearance for the Mersey flats, the sailing vessels for which the canal was constructed. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and described as "the earliest major railway viaduct in the world".[1][2]

Architecture

Constructed from yellow sandstone and red brick, the viaduct consists of nine round-headed arches carried on piers that incline sharply from the base towards the top.[1][2]

See also

References

Further reading

Pottgießer, Hans (1985). Eisenbahnbrücken aus zwei Jahrhunderten [Railway Bridges from Two Centuries]. Basel, Boston, Stuttgart: Birkhäuser. pp. 18–19. ISBN 3764316772. (German)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sankey Viaduct.

Coordinates: 53°26′51″N 2°39′03″W / 53.44745°N 2.65076°W