Railway subway MDL1/30, West Street Subway

The West Street Subway is a railway subway for the Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway line, built in the mid-1840s by Thomas Grainger. It was widened on the west side between 1847 and 1892.

The subway features sandstone and purple engineering brick. It has a change in ground level, descending from east to west, and consists of two phases with different details on each side. The east face has a segmental arch made of stepped sandstone voussoirs with tooled margins and large rectangular coping stones. This arch springs from a quarry-faced impost band with chamfered edges and ends in rectangular piers that rise to track level, where there is an ashlar band and flat coping stones above. There is no parapet on this side. The abutments and spandrels are made of squared and coursed quarry-faced sandstone, with short wing walls projecting to the south, retaining some coping stones. Metal railings have been added to the parapet and wing walls.

The west face, constructed in the mid to late 19th century, is taller and features a semi-circular arch ring made of four bands of purple engineering brick, also springing from an impost band. Above this is a stone parapet with rectangular coping stones. The soffit of this extension is made of purple engineering brick. Inside the tunnel, the original mid-19th century segmental arch is partially visible at the junction with the extended section. The ends of the curving wing walls are marked by square piers, and the coursed stonework extends into a retaining wall for the embankment, also made of squared and coursed quarry-faced sandstone.