Wharncliffe Viaduct is a Grade I listed building in the Ealing local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 November 1949. A 1836-37 Viaduct. 2 related planning applications.
Wharncliffe Viaduct
- WRENN ID
- empty-slate-flax
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Ealing
- Constituency
- Ealing Southall MP: Deirdre Costigan (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 8 November 1949
- Type
- Viaduct
- OS grid reference
- TQ 149 803
- Coordinates
- 51.51084, -0.34534
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Wharncliffe Viaduct, built between 1836 and 1837 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and contractors Messrs Grissell and Peto, is a Grade I listed brown brick structure located in Southall/Hanwell. The viaduct features eight semi-elliptical arches, each spanning 70 feet and rising 19 feet. It measures 886 feet in length and stands 81 feet tall to the parapet, originally 30 feet wide but widened on the north side in 1877. The piers are designed as pylons, initially featuring two per pier but now have three. The arms of Lord Wharncliffe adorn the center of the south face. Notably, this was the first railway viaduct to utilize hollow piers and represents the first major engineering achievement completed on the Great Western Railway, with its original appearance documented by Bourne in his work on the Great Western Railway.
Local climate
Wharncliffe Viaduct sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 92% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 90% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 30 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 64% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings
Nearby listed buildings
- Stable Block at Brent Lodge Park
- Rectory Cottage
- Hanwell Bridge (Over the River Brent)
- Church of St Mary
- Entrance Archway and two Lodges, (one each side of entrance) to St Bernard's Hospital
- The Hermitage
- Main Up Side Building and Downside Island Platform at Hanwell Station
- West Lodge to St Bernards Hospital
- Chapel to St Bernards Hospital
- Spring Cottage