Beatties Bridge (SPC8 55)

A single-span accommodation underbridge, built 1836-40 for the North Midland Railway to the designs of George and Robert Stephenson with Frederick Swanwick.

MATERIALS: coursed and squared quarry-faced Derbyshire Gritstone walling, ashlar dressings with tooled edges. The soffit of the arch is of red brick.

DESCRIPTION: the two faces are essentially identical. The single semi-circular arch has rusticated, V-channelled voussoirs which spring from an impost band, and a projecting keystone. Adorning the spandrels is punched tooling in a herringbone pattern. The arch soffit is of red brick. Below the soffit and impost bands the underside walls are slightly raked. Framing the arch are projecting wing walls, which are gently curved with a concave rake. They are of coursed and squared quarry-faced stone, and feature a projecting band of larger stones forming a string course. Immediately above the arch, and truncating the uppermost voussoirs, is a bold roll moulding which runs across the face and continues to form the coping of the wing walls. The parapet consists of a single course of tooled ashlar, topped by C20 metal railings.