Whitrope Tunnel, Sandy Edge

The Whitrope Culvert, dating to circa 1860, was constructed for the North British Railway. It comprises a former railway tunnel, a skew-arch viaduct, and a circular drainage culvert.

The tunnel has round-arched entrance portals to the north and south, built with ashlar voussoirs, a projecting band course, and plain spandrels. A parapet is set into the hillside. The south elevation features a large abutment of red engineering brick, with irregular terraces holding back the hillside, and a sloped brick wall supported by a rock-faced ashlar wall with plain coping. Smaller brick abutments are situated to the left. The north elevation shows a similar arched entrance with matching details and smaller abutments set into the hillside. The tunnel’s interior is brick-lined, with a ballast base and drainage pipes leading to an under-ballast drainage channel.

The viaduct is a single, segmental-arched skew-arch crossing a road, with a reversed S-plan and diagonal wing walls. The viaduct’s east and west elevations each feature a large, curved retaining wall with projecting coping that advances and descends in height. A diagonally set arch, with flush 4-brick banded voussoirs and a slightly projecting parapet, carries the former track bed over the arch. Further retaining walls advance from the embankment. Drainage holes are evident. An open ironwork fence flanks the former viaduct track bed.

The circular drainage culvert is brick-lined, with flush 3-brick banded voussoirs and a rock-faced band on the exterior, set within a plain brick wall. It has projecting sloped brick wing walls and exits on the south side of the railway embankment.