Railway Viaduct Over River Irwell Leading To Lower Byrom Street Warehouse

Railway viaduct over the River Irwell leading to Lower Byrom Street Warehouse, Manchester, Water Street.

This is a railway bridge carrying a branch of the former Liverpool to Manchester railway over the River Irwell, built in the 1860s by the London and North Western Railway Company. It is constructed of cast-iron beams, cast-iron columns, cast-iron panels, and cushion-rusticated sandstone.

The viaduct was built at an angle over the river to abut an 1830 stone bridge on its south side, enabling the railway lines carried by the two bridges to converge on the west, Salford side of the river. The structure consists of a trough of riveted cast-iron panels set on a framework of cast-iron beams. It is supported at the midpoint of its north side by a single giant cast-iron column standing on a circular coursed stone plinth, and at the midpoint and western half of its south side by the stone bridge, into which the beams are set. The east half of the bridge is located in the City of Manchester. The bridge abutments are of cushion-rusticated coursed sandstone with parapet and flat coping. The western abutment and bank retaining wall are built against the north side of the stone bridge. The retaining wall has a flat coping that curves round and descends in height to terminate in a pier with shaped coping. A brick viaduct with a zig-zag north wall is built against the east abutment on the Manchester side and leads to an iron bridge over Water Street, from where a cast-iron colonnaded viaduct leads into Liverpool Road Station, with Lower Byrom Street Warehouse built across its east end.

The viaduct and railway bridge form an integral component of the former Liverpool Road Station to the east, now the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. The original 1830 complex was designed by railway engineer George Stephenson and is the oldest surviving passenger railway station in the world. In 1844 all passenger traffic ceased and Liverpool Road Station became a goods station, operated from 1846 by the London and North Western Railway. In 1866 a major fire enabled redevelopment of the eastern end of the site, and the London and North Western Railway decided to build a second viaduct to the north side of Stephenson's stone bridge and viaduct. The viaduct led to Grape Street Bonded Warehouse, now Granada Television, built in 1869 (the viaduct branch not surviving), and to the eastern end of Liverpool Road Station, with Lower Byrom Street Warehouse built in 1880.