Avon Viaduct, Linlithgow

Avon Viaduct
Coordinates55°58′28″N 3°37′55″W / 55.97458°N 3.63189°W / 55.97458; -3.63189
CarriesEdinburgh and Glasgow Railway
CrossesRiver Avon
LocaleLinlithgow
Characteristics
No. of spans23
History
DesignerJohn Miller
Built1841
Listed Building – Category A
Official name
Avon Viaduct
Designated24 October 1972
Reference no.LB15326
Location
Interactive map of Avon Viaduct

The Avon Viaduct is a railway viaduct near Linlithgow, in West Lothian, Scotland (west of Edinburgh). Completed in 1841, it spans the River Avon just to the west of town.

Design

The Avon Viaduct consists of 20 segmental arches, each with a span of 50 feet (15 metres), along with three smaller, round-headed, approach arches on eastern side, all in dressed cream sandstone. It crosses the River Avon (Falkirk) and a minor road (the B825) It reaches a height of 70 feet (21 metres) above the river and is 442 yards (404 metres) long. It has prominent impost bands, resembling cornices, from which the arches spring, string courses above the arch crowns, and terminates in a low brick parapet. The engineer, John Miller, built many of his viaducts with hollow spandrels which later required reinforcement. On the Avon Viaduct, the reinforcement was done with radial bracing made from former rails. In the 1960s, the spandrels were filled with concrete.[1][2][3]

History

Miller built the viaduct for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. Work took place from 1839 to 1841.[4][5] It remains in use, carrying the Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line.[6]

The viaduct is a Category A listed building, first listed in 1971, and a scheduled monument. Both statuses provide legal protection. It straddles the border between the West Lothian and Falkirk Council areas, so has two Historic Environment Scotland listings.[5][6][7]

In August 2026, Network Rail started work on a project to renovate the viaduct. The work was to include repairs to the masonry, repainting the steelwork, structural engineering work and replacing the metal parapet handrails with glass-reinforced polymer (GRP). The work was expected to be completed in May 2027 at a cost of £3.6 million.[8]

There is another Avon Viaduct located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of Linlithgow; this Category B listed structure was built c. 1850 for the Monkland Railways and is now disused. To distinguish it from the older viaduct it is usually referred to by the alternative name of Westfield Viaduct.[9][10]

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Biddle, Gordon; Nock, O. S. (1983). The Railway Heritage of Britain: 150 Years of Railway Architecture and Engineering. London: Sheldrake Press. ISBN 9780718123550.
  • Biddle, Gordon (2011). Britain's Historic Railway Buildings: A Gazetteer of Structures (second ed.). Hersham: Ian Allan. ISBN 9780711034914.
  • McFetrich, David (2019). An Encyclopaedia of British Bridges (Revised and extended ed.). Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 9781526752956.

Citations

  1. ↑ Biddle, p. 699.
  2. ↑ Biddle & Nock, p. 148.
  3. ↑ McFetrich, p. 33.
  4. ↑ "Linlithgow, Avon Viaduct". RCAHMS. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Avon Viaduct". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  6. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Avon Viaduct (Category A Listed Building LB15326)". Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  7. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "River Avon, Edinburgh to Glasgow Railway Viaduct (Category A Listed Building LB12985)". Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  8. ↑ Wiliams, Craig (12 August 2026). "£3.6 million overhaul for historic viaduct". Vol. The Herald. Glasgow. p. 9. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Westfield Viaduct (Avon Viaduct)". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  10. ↑ Biddle, p. 695.

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