Derwent Bridge (SPC8 1(D7))

A low, five-span skew viaduct built 1836-40 for the North Midland Railway to the designs of George and Robert Stephenson with Frederick Swanwick, and widened on the west side by the Midland Railway in 1892.

MATERIALS: coursed quarry-faced Derbyshire gritstone. The arch soffits are of skew-set red brick on the east side and blue engineering brick on the west side.

EXTERIOR: the two phases are very similar with only slight variations. The west side extension is wider than the original east side as it had to accommodate three tracks. From the south to the north end the viaduct has five segmental arches: one spans a footpath and the southern bank of the River Derwent, the three middle arches span the river, and the fifth arch spans the northern bank. Wing walls extend from both ends. The east side dating to 1836-40 is faced in v-jointed, banded rusticated stone with a picked dressing. The arches have stepped voussoirs springing from ashlar impost bands. The ashlar cornice has a concave moulding which simplifies into a string course on the wing walls. Above is a parapet of three courses of v-jointed, banded rusticated stone with moulded ashlar coping, surmounted by C20 steel railings. The piers have a plinth and an impost band which wraps around the pointed cutwaters beneath an ashlar capped prow. The soffit is constructed of skew-set red brick laid in stretcher bond, with the voussoirs of both the east face and the original west face returning as quoins. The five spans are flanked by a wide pier and wing walls that follow the alignment of the railway. They are faced in narrow coursed quarry-faced stone and terminate in smaller piers. There is a blocked round-arched opening in the north wing wall.

The west side dating to 1892 has a few minor variations: the cutwaters are rounded; the ashlar cornice has three courses, the two lower ones of even depth and a narrow, projecting upper course; and the parapet has a single recessed course of ashlar. Unrelated brick walls of a later date abut both ends at right angles (these walls are not part of the listed building). The junction between the two phases is visible in the straight joint in the piers, abutments and soffits. Abutting the west quoins is the blue engineering brick of the 1892 soffit, laid in skew-set English bond. In both phases the soffits are supported by ashlar courses with an impost band, which has diagonally set springers.

Adjoining the south end of the viaduct is a bridge (SPC8/1A) of the same date that formerly spanned Derby Canal (now a subway). This had a cast-iron deck that was rebuilt in steel, and the wing walls have also been significantly altered. This bridge is excluded from the listing.