Newton Cap Railway Viaduct over River Wear

The Newton Cap Railway Viaduct, built between 1854 and 1857 for the North Eastern Railway's Bishop Auckland Branch line, is a Grade II listed structure. It is constructed from rock-faced sandstone with ashlar dressings and features brick-lined soffits. The viaduct is approximately 828 feet (252.374 meters) long and consists of 11 semi-circular arches, each spanning 60 feet (18.288 meters). These arches are supported by tall masonry piers and abutments that taper upwards to an ashlar impost band.

The seventh and eighth arches, counting from the south, span the River Wear, which lies about 100 feet below, while the ninth arch crosses a local access road. The basal courses of piers five to eight are set on the floodplain and extend forward and back to create boat-shaped cutwaters that rise to domed, ashlar tops. The other piers rise directly from the valley sides. Each arch features a single arch ring made of large stone voussoirs, with the soffit of each arch finished in red brick. The stonework is rock-faced, except for the smooth undersides of the arch rings, which match the brickwork, and the impost bands on the piers, as well as a second band at the level of the cutwater caps on the floodplain piers, which are also made of ashlar.

Original parapets have been removed or obscured due to the installation of the current road deck, although the visible ashlar string course with roll moulding from which they rose remains. The modern road deck is a concrete slab that cantilevers out over the viaduct's elevations to accommodate footpaths on either side of the carriageway. The current parapets consist of crash-proof metal fences attached to the edges of the road deck.