Railway viaduct MVN2/196, Wheatley's Bridge

Railway skew bridge, 1836-1839 with widening of 1884, by George Stephenson and Thomas Gooch for the Manchester and Leeds Railway.

MATERIALS: gritstone and blue engineering brick.

DESCRIPTION: spanning the River Calder and visible along a considerable length of Steanard Lane which runs along the eastern bank here.

The bridge runs east-west and has five segmental-arched skewed spans. The western end is flanked by curved and canted wing walls, with ashlar coping stones, modern two-rail tubular metal handrails and terminating in low stone piers with capstones. The eastern end splays slightly. The river piers are battered and have bull-nosed ends which rise above the springing points with two dressed courses and a three-course ashlar terminal comprising a projecting lower course with lower roll moulding, and two stepping courses. Full-height three-faceted piers stand on both faces on either bank, with stepped pyramidal caps. The abutments, spandrels and parapets are built of coursed, quarry-faced rusticated gritstone. Both faces have a projecting ashlar band above the arches and continuing across the bank piers, and three-course parapet with ashlar copings.

The northern arches are of tooled stone blocks rising directly off the piers and have tooled, keyed ashlar voussoirs. The southern arches are of seven courses of blue engineering brick with a stone roll moulding above the exposed headers of the ring. These arches spring from a saw-tooth course of stone impost blocks along the top of each pier.

The eastern abutment of Wheatley’s Bridge is also faced with coursed, quarry-faced rusticated gritstone, with rounded angles. The box-girder bridge to the east rests on a modern concrete footing which is let into the top of the abutment.