Railway underbridge MDL1/12, Toad Holes

Railway accommodation underbridge, 1845-1847 by Thomas Grainger for the Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway.

MATERIALS: cast-iron and Pennine Lower Coal Measures Sandstone.

DESCRIPTION: cast-iron beam bridge spanning a single carriageway, supported by masonry abutments with iron parapet balustrades set between ashlar end-pillars. The flanking embankments are revetted with raking, curved wing-walls. The deck of the bridge is a later replacement consisting of steel beams and concrete panels.

The abutments are of coursed, squared, rock-faced masonry, finished with a robust moulded ashlar cornice which supports the bridge deck. Flanking the carriageway are panelled ashlar pilasters that rise from rock-faced masonry plinths and are finished with lighter-sectioned moulded cornices, above which rises the parapet end pillars. The pilasters are slightly wider at the base than at their tops, emphasising their height. The parapet end-pillars above have corniced capstones and plain plinths. Spanning between the pillars is the iron balustrading that consists of a plain handrail supported by closely spaced balusters that have mirrored tulip-formed mid-sections, but are otherwise simple round bars. The facia beams of the bridge deck are thought to be the only surviving cast-iron beams of the original bridge, appearing to be I beams in form, embellished with raised strapwork to imitate panelling. The wing walls are of rock-faced masonry similar to that of the abutments, finished with a plain ashlar capping, and divided from the retaining walls of the rest of the embankment by simple pilaster-strips. The north western approach to the bridge has been infilled, burying the wing walls, the parapet remaining exposed. The south eastern side of the bridge remains open.