Bennerley Viaduct

The Structure of the Viaduct as seen from under the Deck

Bennerley was one of several wrought iron viaducts built in the period after cast iron bridges fell out of favour following the 1847 Dee Bridge disaster but before steel became commonplace.[7] The crossing of the River Erewash and its wide, flat valley required a bespoke solution. The ground is boggy and undermined by extensive coal mining and so a conventional brick viaduct would have been too heavy. The viaduct was designed to be lightweight to avoid excessive load on the foundations.[8][9]

The viaduct was built for the Great Northern Railway's (GNR) Derbyshire Extension, which opened in 1878. The company's stronghold was previously the eastern side of England between London and York, though it had lines as far west as Nottingham, and it was keen to expand westwards to exploit the coal fields of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, an area which had previously been monopolised by the Midland Railway. The extension ran from Nottingham Victoria railway station to Burton upon Trent via Derby (Friargate); Bennerley Viaduct carries it across the River Erewash and its valley mid-way between Nottingham and Derby. The river forms the boundary between the two counties. The eastern end of the viaduct is in Awsworth, Nottinghamshire, and the western side is just north of Ilkeston in Derbyshire.[7][10]

The viaduct was designed by Samuel Abbott, a Nottinghamshire-born engineer and the GNR's resident engineer on the Derbyshire Extension, with input from Richard Johnson, the GNR's chief engineer. Abbot and Johnson were also responsible for Handyside Bridge and Friar Gate Bridge in Derby, further west on the same line. The contractor for Bennerley was Benton and Woodiwiss, and the wrought iron was supplied by Eastwood Swingler & Company of Derby.[8][7]

The viaduct is entirely in wrought iron. The bridge deck consists of 16 segments of lattice girders (meaning it has X-shaped metalwork), supported on 15 evenly spaced piers, also in wrought-iron latticework. The bridge deck is enclosed by low parapets which have their own latticework. Each pier consists of ten tubes, tied together into four parallel frames by vertical cross bracing. They taper diagonally, froming a triangle. The piers rest on foundations in blue brick and capped with stone. It is 1,421 feet (433 metres) (over a quarter of a mile) long, 60 feet (18 metres) above the valley floor in the centre, and 26 feet (7.9 metres) wide between the parapets. Both ends of the viaduct are supported on brick piers. The bridge deck is corrugated, which halved the quantity of track ballast needed, further reducing the weight of the structure.[7][8]

The viaduct was once the central (and longest) part of a longer section of raised line over the Erewash Valley. The valley was approached on embankments at each end. At the western (Ilkeston) end, another iron bridge, supported on Bennerley Viaducts western pier, continues the line of the viaduct across the Erewash Valley line (built by the Midland Railway and still in use). A brick bridge continued the line over the Erewash Canal towards Derby but this was demolished after the railway's closure. The terminating brick pier at the eastern (Awsworth) end was built into an embankment on which the line continued towards Nottingham. The embankments were demolished, though stubs remain at both ends and between the viaduct and the canal.[8] The Erewash Valley is largely flat, making Bennerley Viaduct the dominant feature in the landscape. The only nearby patch of high ground is Ilkeston town centre to the south.[11]

The only other surviving wrought-iron lattice viaduct in England is Meldon Viaduct, near Okehampton, in Devon. Meldon is significantly taller but less than half the length.[7][8][12] Belah Viaduct in Cumbria had a similar design but was demolished shortly after its closure in 1962.[13] Another wrought-iron bridge was the Crumlin Viaduct, once Brtain's tallest, in South Wales. This too was demolished in the 1960s despite efforts to preserve it.[14][9]

Gregory Beecroft, a senior project surveyor for the British Rail Property Board, described Bennerley Viaduct in a contribution for a 1997 book as "among the least impressive" of several metal viaducts that once stood on the British railway network, contrasting it in particular with Belah Viaduct. He believed the "in retrospect, it is a pity that the resources now to be devoted to Bennerley could not have been used to preserve Belah Viaduct. [...] Belah Viaduct closed in 1962, when we were less conscious of our railway heritage, and it was demolished not long after".[13]

Zeppelin Airship LZ59 - L.20

The viaduct was completed in November 1877. The railway line opened in January 1878.[8]

On 31 January 1916, nine Zeppelin airships of the German Airship Naval Division conducted a bombing raid over the English Midlands known as the Great Midlands Raid. One of these airships, the L.20 (LZ 59), dropped seven high-explosive bombs in the vicinity of Bennerley Viaduct. One landed just to the north of the viaduct on the Midland Railway line at Bennerley Junction, destroying a signal box on the Midland line. One pier of the viaduct was hit by shrapnel, causing superficial damage; the marks are still visible on one of the piers.[15]

The line across the viaduct closed in 1968 as a result of the Beeching cuts and thereafter most of the other structures carrying the it across the valley were demolished. A contractor was appointed to demolish Bennerley Viaduct but wrought iron cannot be cut up using conventional metal-cutting equipment. The cost of dismantling the structure was deemed prohibitive and the viaduct remained in situ.[8][10][16] It became part of the closed-line estate, a group of redundant railway structures maintained by the railway authorities to ensure they did not pose a risk to the public. As a result of the privatisation of British Rail between 1994 and 1997, the viaduct became part of the Historical Railways Estate (or Burdensome Estate), managed by BRB (Residuary) Limited. By that time, there were advanced plans for a conservation group to take ownership of it.[13] On 23 March 2001, Railway Paths Ltd, a sister charity of Sustrans formed to conserve redundant railway structures and convert them into walking and cycling paths, purchased the viaduct from BRB (Residuary).[17]

Looking up through the centre of a pier

The viaduct was designated a grade II listed building in 1974, later upgraded to grade II*. It is listed for its architectural interest, rarity, constructional interest, and completeness. Listed status provides legal protection from demolition or unsympathetic modification.[8] The viaduct received little maintenance after 1986 and fell into disrepair. Repair and conservation schemes were mooted but with little progress.[16] In 2007, the viaduct was added to the Heritage at Risk Register as its condition had deteriorated to the point that it was in danger of irreparable damage,[18] and it was the only site in the United Kingdom on the 2020 World Monuments Watch, a list published by the World Monuments Fund to highlight heritage sites "in need of urgent action that demonstrate the potential to trigger social change through conservation".[19]

In 2017, the Heritage Lottery Fund gave an initial grant to promote engagement, which led to the formation of the Friends of Bennerley Viaduct, a community group which works alongside Railway Paths on the restorations of the viaduct. An application for further Heritage Lottery funding to enable the viaduct to be opened to the public was rejected at the end of 2017, leaving it with an uncertain future.[20] In 2019 Historic England offered £120,000 to cover a funding shortfall, allowing restoration work to begin the following year.[21] Ben Robinson, Historic England's Principal Advisor for Heritage at Risk, said "The importance of this viaduct cannot be underplayed. [It is] a stunning example of the genius of British engineering".[22] It was named as the only UK location on the 'World Monuments Watch'.[23]

The work included repairs to the ironwork, the bases of the piers, and abutments and partial reconstruction of the parapets at the eastern end. The embankment at the western end was rebuilt to provide ramped access from the Erewash Canal towpath and steps were built from the eastern end with a wheel trough alongside for bicycles.[17][22] The viaduct opened to the public on 13 January 2022 after restoration work costing £1.7 million, which was contributed by Railway Paths, the Railway Heritage Trust, and others.[16]

• Grade II* listed buildings in Erewash
• Grade II* listed buildings in Nottinghamshire
• Listed buildings in Awsworth
• Listed buildings in Ilkeston
• List of lattice girder bridges in the United Kingdom

• Henshaw, Alfred (2000). The Great Northern Railway in the East Midlands. RCTS. ISBN 0-901115-88-6.
• Rayner Thrower, W. (1984). The Great Northern Main Line. Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-297-8.

• Friends of Bennerley Viaduct