Skerne Bridge

Railway bridge spanning the River Skerne, 1825 by Ignatius Bonomi for the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

MATERIALS: finely dressed stone ashlar. Rock-faced stone ashlar is used for the later wing walls and, to the north, the surviving piers of the extension bridge.

DESCRIPTION: the bridge has a single arch spanning the river and is flanked by smaller, lower pedestrian arches set in the wide piers that rise from the riverbanks, being best viewed from the south. The central arch is segmental and is formed with an arch-ring of voussoirs with a roll-moulded string course forming a second, narrower arch-ring. The piers break slightly forwards and have a horizontal string course set level with the springing points of the roll-moulded arch-ring. The pedestrian arches have round arches formed with voussoirs fitted into the coursing of the ashlar stonework of the piers. The bridge, with its piers, is finished with a moulded cornice formed by three courses of stonework, topped by a plain blocking course forming a low parapet fitted with later railings. The flanking wing walls, that retain the sides of the embankment, are gently concave until just before reaching the bridge where they turn sharply convex to butt up against the face of the bridge piers, the point at which the curvature changes being covered by a slightly projecting pilaster. The ramped sections of the wing walls are stone coped, the sections either side of the bridge having a low parapet rising from a moulded cornice. Earlier wing walls are expected to remain buried within the embankment and the structure of the bridge will also retain evidence of C19 strengthening works and approaches to engineering.

Extending from the north face of the 1825 bridge, flanking the river, are the two narrow piers that originally supported the bridge decking for the three lines added in the late C19, now removed. The north face of the 1825 bridge has lost its original cornice and parapet.