London Road Viaduct

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Coordinates: 50°50′07″N 0°08′32″W / 50.8353°N 0.1421°W / 50.8353; -0.1421
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London Road viaduct
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London Road Viaduct
The viaduct in 2008
Coordinates50°50′07″N 0°08′32″W / 50.8353°N 0.1421°W / 50.8353; -0.1421
CarriesRailway
LocaleBrighton
Maintained byNetwork Rail
Heritage statusGrade II*-listed
Characteristics
MaterialBrick
Total length1,200 feet (370 m)
Height67 feet (20 m)
No. of spans27
History
DesignerJohn Urpeth Rastrick
Construction start29 May 1845
Construction end28 March 1846
Location
Map

The London Road Viaduct is a brick railway

East Coastway Line between Brighton and London Road railway stations. Built in the 1840s for the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway by the locomotive engineer and railway architect John Urpeth Rastrick, the sharply curving structure has 27 arches and about 10 million bricks. It is still in constant use, and is listed
at Grade II* for its historical and architectural significance.

History

The London and Brighton Railway

Brighton, Lewes & Hastings Railway Company, was formed to build this line; John Urpeth Rastrick was employed as the surveyor and architect.[2] The two companies and others amalgamated in July 1846 to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.[4]

In the 1840s, the land northeast of Brighton station was undeveloped, consisting of fields.

embankment or a viaduct. Local opinion favoured an embankment, and he faced opposition and criticism when he chose to build a viaduct.[6] Nevertheless, he planned a route for it, and laid the foundation stone on 29 May 1845. Construction took 10 months: the structure was ready on 28 March 1846,[2] more than two months before the line to Lewes opened. By the 1870s, dense terraced housing surrounded the viaduct: residential development was stimulated by the opening of the railway.[7][2]

The viaduct viewed from the higher ground of Hanover

Brighton's most significant bombing raid of the

Second World War severely damaged London Road Viaduct. At 12.30pm on 25 May 1943, Focke-Wulf fighter-bomber aircraft dropped several bombs on Brighton, five of which landed on the railway.[8] One demolished two arches and one pier at the west end of the viaduct, two arches west of the Preston Road span,[2][8] leaving the tracks spanning the gap in mid-air.[9] Despite this, a temporary repair allowed trains to start using the viaduct again within 24 hours;[6] in less than a month, the service was back to normal.[2] Until the arches were fully repaired in September 1943, however, a 15 mph (24 km/h) speed restriction was enforced and Preston Road could be seen through the gaps between the sleepers where the brickwork had been blasted away.[8] The replacement brickwork, darker than that of the main structure, can be seen from the road below.[9]

Architecture

Southward view from a train, showing the decorative balusters
The viaduct in 1996
View though the pierced piers, showing patchwork repairs

The structure is 1,200 feet (370 m) long, and reaches a maximum height of 67 feet (20 m) above the floor of the valley.

radius of curvature of 0.75 miles (1.21 km), and 11 have a radius of 0.125 miles (0.201 km).[6]

Approximately 10 million bricks were needed to build the viaduct. The brickwork is red and brown, with yellow brick dressings.

balustrade with stone balusters.[12]

The viaduct today

London Road Viaduct was listed at Grade II* by English Heritage on 19 April 1974.[12] This status is given to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest".[13] As of February 2001, it was one of 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.[14]

As of 2009, 174 scheduled

Southern
, cross the viaduct each weekday. There are fewer train movements at weekends.

View of the viaduct as built, looking towards St Peter's Church, Brighton with Brighton railway works visible on top of the cliff

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-906520-03-7
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Carder, Timothy (1990). "Railways – East Coastway". The Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Lewes: East Sussex County Libraries. p. §144.
  3. ISBN 0-85059-664-5
    .
  4. ^ Carder, Timothy (1990). "Railways". The Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Lewes: East Sussex County Libraries. p. §141.
  5. ^ Carder, Timothy (1990). "Wellesbourne". The Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Lewes: East Sussex County Libraries. p. §201.
  6. ^
    ISBN 0-7110-1155-9
    .
  7. ^ Carder, Timothy (1990). "London Road, Brighton". The Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Lewes: East Sussex County Libraries. p. §91.
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-7110-1155-9
    .
  9. ^ a b Blackwell, John (22 March 2006). "London Road viaduct: Completed in 1846". My Brighton and Hove website. My Brighton and Hove (c/o QueensPark Books). Retrieved 5 March 2009.
  10. ISBN 0-85059-664-5
    .
  11. ISBN 0-7134-0275-X
    .
  12. ^ a b c d Historic England (2007). "London Road Railway Viaduct, Preston Road, Brighton, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex (1380757)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
  13. ^ "Listed Buildings". English Heritage. 2010. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  14. ^ "Images of England — Statistics by County (East Sussex)". Images of England. English Heritage. 2007. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  15. Southern timetable booklet (East Coastway Line). New Southern Railway Ltd. December 2008. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
  16. Southern timetable booklet (East Coastway Line). New Southern Railway Ltd. December 2008. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
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