A simple question, perhaps, but how many arches are there in Accrington Viaduct. Early press reports refer to 21 arches, but the English Heritage listing text implies that there are "19 (originally 21) semicircular brick arches (40ft. span, 60ft. high) with stone plinths, gritstone facings, rusticated voussoirs, roll-moulded string course, and parapet". The listing text then mentions three further arches crossing Blackburn Road which are "now separated from the main structure by a short embankment". However, The Blackburn Standard stated that the short embankment existed at the time of opening - so how many arches are there? Is the listing text incorrect, or just poorly-worded?
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Accrington Viaduct
- Thread starter euryalus
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Darren R
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I think there may be some confusion between Blackburn Road and Whalley Road here. The viaduct was always - and remains still - 21 arches. At the northern end there is then a short embankment before a further three-arch bridge over Whalley Road. This was always a separate structure from the viaduct.
Blackburn Road is crossed by the railway at the southern end of the viaduct; it's the first road departing from Accrington station towards Gannow Junction. I don't know where they have got the figure of 19 from.
However, the span over Blackburn Road (Blackburn Street as it was known at the time, as marked on the 1849 OS map linked above) is not a semi-circular arch, unlike the remaining 20. Additionally, the arch next to it has been bricked-up on both sides at some point. (I don't know when or why, but I have seen photographs from the 1950s with the arch bricked-up, so it's not recent.)
So possibly what they mean is that there are "19 (originally 20) semi-circular brick arches...plus an eliptical skewed arch at the southern end over Blackburn Road. A further bridge of three stone arches over Whalley Road was built separated from the northern end of the viaduct by a short embankment."
A Londoner probably wrote the description without checking!
Blackburn Road is crossed by the railway at the southern end of the viaduct; it's the first road departing from Accrington station towards Gannow Junction. I don't know where they have got the figure of 19 from.
However, the span over Blackburn Road (Blackburn Street as it was known at the time, as marked on the 1849 OS map linked above) is not a semi-circular arch, unlike the remaining 20. Additionally, the arch next to it has been bricked-up on both sides at some point. (I don't know when or why, but I have seen photographs from the 1950s with the arch bricked-up, so it's not recent.)
So possibly what they mean is that there are "19 (originally 20) semi-circular brick arches...plus an eliptical skewed arch at the southern end over Blackburn Road. A further bridge of three stone arches over Whalley Road was built separated from the northern end of the viaduct by a short embankment."
A Londoner probably wrote the description without checking!
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