Maidenhead Railway Bridge (MLN12327)

MATERIALS: fine red brick with Bramley Fall gritstone dressings, and thick York stone slabs for the deck. The two phases are tied together internally with iron tie rods.

DESCRIPTION: south (Down) elevation: symmetrical, from east to west: plain terminal projecting pier, plain walling, then three flood arches with 28ft (8.5m) semi-circular spans, and then a projecting pier framed by paired Doric pilasters and pierced by a 25ft (6.5m) semi-circular flood arch; next the western river arch with a semi-elliptical span of 128ft (c.39m) across a rise of only 25ft 3in (7.4m), then the central pier on Guards' Club Island, projecting and articulated by corner pilasters, then the eastern river arch, with again a semi-elliptical span of 128ft (c.39m) across a rise of 25ft 3in (7.4m); on the eastern bank a projecting pier framed by paired Doric pilasters and pierced by a 25ft (6.5m) semi-circular flood arch, then three flood arches with 28ft (8.5m) semi-circular spans, then plain walling and finally the plain projecting east pier. Across the whole length of the elevation is a parapet with gritstone coping above a bold gritstone cornice with roll moulding and a plain frieze.

North (up) elevation identical.

Soffits: with gritstone imposts bands (which continue as the bases of the pier pilasters). In the soffits the boundary between the 1837-9 bridge and the 1890-3 extensions is defined by a chamfered edge, the 1890s parts being a few inches higher than the original arches (perhaps to allow for settlement that never occurred).

Because of the mature vegetation on both banks, the Bridge is not visible in the wider landscape except when viewed from the River Thames, its banks and the Grade I listed eighteenth century Maidenhead [road] Bridge to the north (carrying the A4). In these views the railway bridge is very prominent, and together with the Maidenhead Bridge, it forms a celebrated river scene.