Kielder Viaduct

Kielder Viaduct consists of seven semi-circular masonry skew arches and was built in 1862 by the North British Railway to carry the Border Counties Line across marshy land, which following flooding to create Kielder Water, became the place where Deadwater Burn joins Bakethin Reservoir. Now closed to rail traffic, the bridge is currently used as a footpath. HistoryThe viaduct was conceived in a joint project of the Border Counties Railway and the North British Railway as part of the former's extension to Riccarton Junction. 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 who had a shooting lodge nearby, the viaduct was built in a Baronial style and decorated with a battlemented parapet and faux arrow slits. 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.

Kielder Viaduct consists of seven semi-circular masonry skew arches and was built in 1862 by the North British Railway to carry the Border Counties Line across marshy land, which following flooding to create Kielder Water, became the place where Deadwater Burn joins Bakethin Reservoir. Now closed to rail traffic, the bridge is currently used as a footpath. HistoryThe viaduct was conceived in a joint project of the Border Counties Railway and the North British Railway as part of the former's extension to Riccarton Junction. 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 who had a shooting lodge nearby, the viaduct was built in a Baronial style and decorated with a battlemented parapet and faux arrow slits. 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.