Alfreton Road Bridge (SPC8 10)

The Alfreton Road Bridge, built between 1836 and 1840, is a three-span skew overbridge designed by George and Robert Stephenson with Frederick Swanwick for the North Midland Railway.

The bridge is constructed primarily of coursed and squared Coal Measure sandstone, with tooled ashlar Derbyshire Gritstone dressings. The arch soffits are of red brick. The north face is a mirror image of the south face. The three segmental arches are defined by rusticated ashlar Gritstone voussoirs springing from impost bands which extend to the underside of the bridge. The central arch’s span is 30 feet and was originally 16 feet high. The outer arches are slightly narrower. The piers and abutments are of coursed and squared quarry-faced sandstone with plinths and ashlar Gritstone quoins, chamfered to the piers. Applied piers, featuring a concave rake and rusticated Gritstone quoins, frame the bridge and rise to become part of the parapet. A Gritstone cornice runs along the face and piers, incorporating a narrow ashlar course, a bold, tooled roll moulding, and a chamfered ashlar course. The parapet above is composed of two sandstone courses, with tooled margins on the outer face and punched markings on the inner face. It is topped by broad, tooled, square-moulded Gritstone coping stones that have a slight fall to the outer edge. The long wing walls are of coursed and squared, quarry-faced sandstone and are raked and curved; the south wing wall projects considerably further on the west side than the east side, with the opposite being true of the north wing wall. Half hexagonal stone piers mark the ends of the long wing walls, while the short wing walls terminate in raked piers.

For the purpose of planning and heritage legislation, the tarmacadam road surface of the bridge is excluded from the listing as it is not considered to be of special architectural or historic interest.