Wharncliffe Viaduct
Encyclopedia
The Wharncliffe Viaduct is a brick-built viaduct
that carries the Great Western Main Line
railway across the Brent Valley
, between Hanwell
and Southall
, Ealing
, UK
, at an elevation of 65 feet (19.8 m). The viaduct, built in 1836-7, was constructed for the opening of the Great Western Railway
(GWR). It is situated between Southall
and Hanwell
stations, the latter station being only a very short distance away to the east.
The viaduct was the first major structural design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
, the first building contract to be let on the GWR project, and the first major engineering work to be completed. It was also the first railway viaduct to be built with hollow piers, a feature much appreciated by a colony of bat
s who have since taken up residence within.
, this 900 feet (274.3 m) Georgian
viaduct has eight semi-elliptical arches, each spanning 70 feet (21.3 m) and rising 17.5 feet (5.3 m). It is 55 feet (16.8 m) wide. The supporting piers are hollow and tapered, rising to projecting stone cornices that held up the arch centring
during construction.
When built, the viaduct was designed to carry two broad gauge
tracks: the piers were 30 feet (9.1 m) wide at ground level and 33 feet (10.1 m) at deck level.
The contractor was the partnership of Thomas Grissell
and Samuel Morton Peto
. The cost was £40,000.
As travel by rail became more popular and rail traffic grew, pressure mounted to have an additional local line. Also, the Gauge Act of 1846 decreed that George Stephenson
's (narrower) standard gauge
should be the standard used for all railways across the country. Therefore, in 1877 the viaduct was widened by the addition of an extra row of piers and arches on the north side. Then in 1892 the broad gauge track was converted to standard gauge, and this allowed enough width for four standard gauge tracks.
Notice how the visual impact of the overhead electrification
has been minimised by placing the supporting towers
for the catenary
on the alternate centre lines of the viaduct's columns, thus maintaining symmetry of form.
On the central pier on the south side is a carving of the coat of arms of James Stuart Wortley Mackenzie, Lord Wharncliffe
, who was chairman of the parliamentary committee that steered the passage of the GWR Bill through Parliament.
and William Fothergill Cooke
to install their five-needle telegraph system between Paddington Station
and West Drayton
and to carry out experiments. It proved to be useful, so the viaduct thus carried the world's first commercial electrical telegraph, on 9 April 1839.
At first, the seven-core cables were carried inside cast iron pipes, on short wooden spikes, a few feet from the side of the railway line. But from January 1843, the public were treated to the sight of telegraph wires against the sky line, across the top of the viaduct, for the first time. Cooke had renegotiated the contract with the GWR and extended the telegraph to Slough
, using a simpler two-needle instrument that could be supplied with just two wires suspended from porcelain insulators on poles.
On 16 May 1843 the Paddington-to-Slough telegraph went public, becoming Britain's first public telegraph service. Despite being something of a publicity stunt for Cooke, it became very popular, and HM Government were frequently using it for communication with the royal household at Windsor Castle nearby.
In early 1845, John Tawell
was apprehended following the use of a needle telegraph message from Slough
to Paddington on 1 January 1845. This is thought to be the first use of the telegraph to catch a murderer.
The message was:
As the telecommunication traffic grew, the viaduct came to carry one of the trunk routes for the transatlantic cables, and more recently fibre-optic cables.
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
, CBE
, the historian of art and architecture, said of it, "Few viaducts have such architectural panache."
It is one of the key locations in the bid for historic parts of the original GWR main line from Paddington
to be recognised as a World Heritage Site
.
On the nearby Uxbridge Road, an eighteenth-century coaching inn was renamed The Viaduct in its honour when the railway opened. This pub, which is itself listed as of local interest, still contains parts of the original stable block.
The hollow cavities within the structure of the supporting piers provide convenient roosting places for bat
s. These 'bat caves' have been given legal protection under the Countryside Act (1981). Bats are vulnerable to disturbance and the Act requires that only trained and licensed batworkers may enter caves and other areas where bats roost.
The Parks and Countryside Service of the London Borough of Ealing
, in conjunction with Network Rail
and the London Bat Group, have worked to safeguard the colonies by providing entrance grilles and hibernation shelters for each roost.
It is not clear which species of bat is resident; indeed, there may be several. Identification usually requires capture and expert knowledge. However, the most likely candidate is Daubenton's bat
(), since this species forms colonies in caves, tunnels and under bridges, always near water (in this case, the River Brent
), and is known to reside in other locations in west London.
It is quite likely that this viaduct is the largest bat cave complex in the whole of London, and possibly the south of England, as no other roost approaching this size has so far been reported.
. This is an area being maintained as a traditional hay meadow
and is part of the Brent River Park.
The river Brent has marked the Hanwell boundary almost unchanged since before the Domesday Book
and so, most of the viaduct to the west of it, resides in Southall.
A large body of Irish men engaged in constructing the Great Western Railway went to The Stag beerhouse, where a few Englishmen had assembled, and a row commenced. Hearing that the Rev. Dr. Walmisley, the rector, had dispatched a messenger to Brentford for the police, their rage was diverted to that worthy magistrate, whom they threatened to sacrifice to their fury. Three prisoners were sentenced to two months in the House of Correction by the magistrates, who sent a letter to the Company, and stated that unless something was done, it would be necessary to apply to the Government for a body of police or military, to be stationed at Hanwell.
3 May 1838
First trains run. The first locomotives to cross were the Vulcan and the Aeolus built by Tayleur and Co.
, of Warrington and the more famous North Star
, built by Robert Stephenson and Company
at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
4 June 1838
The line opened to the public.
1839
Trains on the new railway left Hanwell for Paddington every morning at 8 and 11 am, and at 3 and 7 pm; also westwards for Slough and Maidenhead, at 9:30 am, and at 1:30, 4:30, and 8:30 pm.
Locally, it is often repeated to this day, that Queen Victoria so much enjoyed the view that she would have her train halt for a while on Brunel's spectacular viaduct over the river Brent.
1847
The engine of an Exeter Express lost a tyre from a 7 feet (2.1 m) drive wheel, near Southall. It killed two passers-by and derailed a goods train on the other track. As this happened at high speed, the express was unable to stop until it had passed over the Wharncliffe Viaduct.
Second World War
With the industrial base of Britain being so dependent on its rail system, this viaduct was seen by the Luftwaffe as one of their strategic targets. Local people still remember the many attempts made by the Luftwaffe
to destroy the viaduct. Had they succeeded, it would have severed the arterial link, into and out of, the west London industrial estates for many weeks – if not months. All raids, however, fell wide of their mark or the bombs failed to explode.
24 November 2002
A First Great Western train from Swansea to Paddington, travelling at approximately 120 miles per hour (193.1 km/h), derailed shortly after it passed through a set of points close to Southall station. The train remained upright but travelled a further 2 miles (3.2 km), passing an oncoming High Speed Train, through Hanwell station, and over Wharncliffe Viaduct before coming to a halt. There were no injuries to the 450 passengers on board, but the driver had to be treated for shock.
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
that carries the Great Western Main Line
Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in Great Britain that runs westwards from London Paddington station to the west of England and South Wales. The core Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington to Temple Meads railway station in Bristol. A major branch of the Great...
railway across the Brent Valley
River Brent
The Brent is a river within Greater London which is a tributary of the River Thames. It is 17.9 miles long, running north-east to south-west, and it joins the Thames on the Tideway at Brentford, Hounslow.- Hydronymy and etymology :...
, between Hanwell
Hanwell
Hanwell is a town situated in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, between Ealing and Southall. The motto of Hanwell Urban District Council was Nec Aspera Terrent...
and Southall
Southall
Southall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...
, Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, at an elevation of 65 feet (19.8 m). The viaduct, built in 1836-7, was constructed for the opening of the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR). It is situated between Southall
Southall railway station
Southall railway station, is in Southall in west London, England. The station is in Travelcard Zone 4 and passenger services are provided by First Great Western from London to , and , and by Heathrow Connect from Paddington to Heathrow Airport....
and Hanwell
Hanwell railway station
Hanwell railway station is a railway station in Hanwell in the London Borough of Ealing. The station is managed by First Great Western but served by local services operated by Heathrow Connect from London to Heathrow Airport.-History:...
stations, the latter station being only a very short distance away to the east.
The viaduct was the first major structural design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
, the first building contract to be let on the GWR project, and the first major engineering work to be completed. It was also the first railway viaduct to be built with hollow piers, a feature much appreciated by a colony of bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s who have since taken up residence within.
Design
Constructed of engineering brickBrick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
, this 900 feet (274.3 m) Georgian
Georgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...
viaduct has eight semi-elliptical arches, each spanning 70 feet (21.3 m) and rising 17.5 feet (5.3 m). It is 55 feet (16.8 m) wide. The supporting piers are hollow and tapered, rising to projecting stone cornices that held up the arch centring
Centring
Centring , or centering , is the structure upon which the stones of arches or vault are laid during construction. Once the arch is complete, it supports itself, but until the keystone is inserted, it has no strength and needs the centring to keep the voussoirs in their correct relative...
during construction.
When built, the viaduct was designed to carry two broad gauge
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
tracks: the piers were 30 feet (9.1 m) wide at ground level and 33 feet (10.1 m) at deck level.
The contractor was the partnership of Thomas Grissell
Thomas Grissell
Thomas Grissell was an English public works contractor who was responsible for constructing a number of prestigious buildings in England.-Early life and education:...
and Samuel Morton Peto
Samuel Morton Peto
Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet was an English entrepreneur and civil engineer in the 19th century. A partner in Grissell and Peto, he managed construction firms that built many major buildings and monuments in London...
. The cost was £40,000.
As travel by rail became more popular and rail traffic grew, pressure mounted to have an additional local line. Also, the Gauge Act of 1846 decreed that George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
's (narrower) standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
should be the standard used for all railways across the country. Therefore, in 1877 the viaduct was widened by the addition of an extra row of piers and arches on the north side. Then in 1892 the broad gauge track was converted to standard gauge, and this allowed enough width for four standard gauge tracks.
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
has been minimised by placing the supporting towers
for the catenary
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
on the alternate centre lines of the viaduct's columns, thus maintaining symmetry of form.
On the central pier on the south side is a carving of the coat of arms of James Stuart Wortley Mackenzie, Lord Wharncliffe
James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe
Colonel James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe PC , was a British soldier and politician...
, who was chairman of the parliamentary committee that steered the passage of the GWR Bill through Parliament.
First viaduct to carry telegraph
Brunel was quick to see the possible advantages of the early electric telegraph system for use in running the railway. In 1838 he persuaded Sir Charles WheatstoneCharles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS , was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope , and the Playfair cipher...
and William Fothergill Cooke
William Fothergill Cooke
Sir William Fothergill Cooke was, with Charles Wheatstone, the co-inventor of the Cooke-Wheatstone electrical telegraph, which was patented in May 1837...
to install their five-needle telegraph system between Paddington Station
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...
and West Drayton
West Drayton
West Drayton is a suburban area in the London Borough of Hillingdon in the far west of London, England. Formerly part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District of Middlesex, the district became part of Greater London in 1965....
and to carry out experiments. It proved to be useful, so the viaduct thus carried the world's first commercial electrical telegraph, on 9 April 1839.
Slough railway station
Slough railway station, in Slough, Berkshire, England, is served by local services operated by First Great Western from to and intercity services on the Great Western Main Line, the original line of the Great Western Railway...
, using a simpler two-needle instrument that could be supplied with just two wires suspended from porcelain insulators on poles.
On 16 May 1843 the Paddington-to-Slough telegraph went public, becoming Britain's first public telegraph service. Despite being something of a publicity stunt for Cooke, it became very popular, and HM Government were frequently using it for communication with the royal household at Windsor Castle nearby.
In early 1845, John Tawell
John Tawell
John Tawell was a British murderer. In 1845, he became the first person to be arrested as the result of telecommunications technology....
was apprehended following the use of a needle telegraph message from Slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
to Paddington on 1 January 1845. This is thought to be the first use of the telegraph to catch a murderer.
The message was:
-
- A murder has just been committed at Salt Hill and the suspected murderer was seen to take a first class ticket to London by the train that left Slough at 7.42pm. He is in the garb of a Kwaker with a brown great coat on which reaches his feet. He is in the last compartment of the second first-class carriage
As the telecommunication traffic grew, the viaduct came to carry one of the trunk routes for the transatlantic cables, and more recently fibre-optic cables.
Public recognition
The viaduct was among the first structures to be listed, being defined as a Grade 1 listed building on 8 November 1949 (the legal framework for listing was introduced in 1947).Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
, CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
, the historian of art and architecture, said of it, "Few viaducts have such architectural panache."
It is one of the key locations in the bid for historic parts of the original GWR main line from Paddington
Paddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
to be recognised as a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.
On the nearby Uxbridge Road, an eighteenth-century coaching inn was renamed The Viaduct in its honour when the railway opened. This pub, which is itself listed as of local interest, still contains parts of the original stable block.
Bat colony
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s. These 'bat caves' have been given legal protection under the Countryside Act (1981). Bats are vulnerable to disturbance and the Act requires that only trained and licensed batworkers may enter caves and other areas where bats roost.
The Parks and Countryside Service of the London Borough of Ealing
London Borough of Ealing
The London Borough of Ealing is a borough in west London.-Location:The London Borough of Ealing borders the London Borough of Hillingdon to the west, the London Borough of Harrow and the London Borough of Brent to the north, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham to the east and the London...
, in conjunction with Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
and the London Bat Group, have worked to safeguard the colonies by providing entrance grilles and hibernation shelters for each roost.
It is not clear which species of bat is resident; indeed, there may be several. Identification usually requires capture and expert knowledge. However, the most likely candidate is Daubenton's bat
Daubenton's bat
Daubenton's Bat, Myotis daubentonii, is a Eurasian bat with quite short ears. It ranges from Britain to Japan and is considered to be increasing its numbers in many areas.The name commemorates the French naturalist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton....
(), since this species forms colonies in caves, tunnels and under bridges, always near water (in this case, the River Brent
River Brent
The Brent is a river within Greater London which is a tributary of the River Thames. It is 17.9 miles long, running north-east to south-west, and it joins the Thames on the Tideway at Brentford, Hounslow.- Hydronymy and etymology :...
), and is known to reside in other locations in west London.
It is quite likely that this viaduct is the largest bat cave complex in the whole of London, and possibly the south of England, as no other roost approaching this size has so far been reported.
Location
The Wharncliffe Viaduct is best viewed from Brent Meadow on the south side, accessed from the Uxbridge Road, opposite Ealing HospitalEaling Hospital
Ealing Hospital, officially called Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, is a general NHS hospital in the Southall district of the London Borough of Ealing, Greater London, England....
. This is an area being maintained as a traditional hay meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
and is part of the Brent River Park.
The river Brent has marked the Hanwell boundary almost unchanged since before the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
and so, most of the viaduct to the west of it, resides in Southall.
Time line
1836A large body of Irish men engaged in constructing the Great Western Railway went to The Stag beerhouse, where a few Englishmen had assembled, and a row commenced. Hearing that the Rev. Dr. Walmisley, the rector, had dispatched a messenger to Brentford for the police, their rage was diverted to that worthy magistrate, whom they threatened to sacrifice to their fury. Three prisoners were sentenced to two months in the House of Correction by the magistrates, who sent a letter to the Company, and stated that unless something was done, it would be necessary to apply to the Government for a body of police or military, to be stationed at Hanwell.
3 May 1838
First trains run. The first locomotives to cross were the Vulcan and the Aeolus built by Tayleur and Co.
GWR Charles Tayleur locomotives
The first 19 locomotives ordered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Railway included six 2-2-2 Charles Tayleur locomotives. They were built by Charles Tayleur at his Vulcan Foundry but were unsuccessful and rapidly supplemented by the Star Class locomotives ordered by Daniel Gooch...
, of Warrington and the more famous North Star
GWR Star Class
The Great Western Railway Star Class of 2-2-2 broad gauge steam locomotives were used for passenger train work. Designed by Robert Stephenson, the class was introduced into service between November 1838 and November 1841, and withdrawn between April 1864 and September 1871.A total of twelve Star...
, built by Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build railway engines.- Foundation and early success :...
at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
4 June 1838
The line opened to the public.
1839
Trains on the new railway left Hanwell for Paddington every morning at 8 and 11 am, and at 3 and 7 pm; also westwards for Slough and Maidenhead, at 9:30 am, and at 1:30, 4:30, and 8:30 pm.
Locally, it is often repeated to this day, that Queen Victoria so much enjoyed the view that she would have her train halt for a while on Brunel's spectacular viaduct over the river Brent.
1847
The engine of an Exeter Express lost a tyre from a 7 feet (2.1 m) drive wheel, near Southall. It killed two passers-by and derailed a goods train on the other track. As this happened at high speed, the express was unable to stop until it had passed over the Wharncliffe Viaduct.
Second World War
With the industrial base of Britain being so dependent on its rail system, this viaduct was seen by the Luftwaffe as one of their strategic targets. Local people still remember the many attempts made by the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
to destroy the viaduct. Had they succeeded, it would have severed the arterial link, into and out of, the west London industrial estates for many weeks – if not months. All raids, however, fell wide of their mark or the bombs failed to explode.
24 November 2002
A First Great Western train from Swansea to Paddington, travelling at approximately 120 miles per hour (193.1 km/h), derailed shortly after it passed through a set of points close to Southall station. The train remained upright but travelled a further 2 miles (3.2 km), passing an oncoming High Speed Train, through Hanwell station, and over Wharncliffe Viaduct before coming to a halt. There were no injuries to the 450 passengers on board, but the driver had to be treated for shock.
See also
- River BrentRiver BrentThe Brent is a river within Greater London which is a tributary of the River Thames. It is 17.9 miles long, running north-east to south-west, and it joins the Thames on the Tideway at Brentford, Hounslow.- Hydronymy and etymology :...
- List of bridges in London
- List of railway bridges and viaducts in the United Kingdom
External links
- "Wharncliffe Viaduct, John Bourne, 1845" – drawing commissioned by the GWR for a book of stations and railway infrastructure.
- The London Bat Group Accessed 2007-06-18
- Photo of grille preventing human access to bat roosts
- Photo of information board under the viaduct.