Ribblehead Viaduct

Ribblehead Viaduct
Yorkshire West Riding
Section of the Ribblehead Viaduct
Location
Carrying:	Settle-Carlisle railway line
Crossing:	Batty Moss
Location
Location:	54°12’38"N, 2°22’13"W
Structure
Length:	440 yards
History
	Built 1870 - 1875
Information

The Ribblehead Viaduct is an astounding railway viaduct, 440 yards long and 104 feet tall on its brick pillars, which carries the Settle-Carlisle Railway across Batty Moss in the valley of the River Ribble at Ribblehead, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The viaduct stands 28 miles north-west of Skipton, Yorkshire and 26 miles south-east of Kendal, Westmorland, built by the Midland Railway to take the Settle-Carlisle Railway across the top of Ribblesdale. It is today a Grade II* listed structure.

The land underneath and around the viaduct is a scheduled ancient monument because here are found the remains of the construction camp for the viaduct and its navvy settlements, named Batty Wife Hole, Sebastopol, and Belgravia Here to are more ancient the remains, of a prehistoric field system.

History

The viaduct was designed by engineer, John Sydney Crossley. The first stone was laid on 12 October 1870 and the last in 1874. One thousand navvies built the viaduct and established shanty towns on the moors for themselves and their families. They named the towns after Crimean War victories, well-to-do districts of London and biblical names.

In the camps there were smallpox epidemics, and there were deaths from industrial accidents. Around one hundred navvies were killed during its construction. There are around 200 burials of men, women, and children in the graveyard at Chapel-le-Dale dating from the time of its construction. The church has a memorial to the railway workers.

The line over the bridge was opened to goods traffic on 3 August 1875, but passenger trains did not commence running until 1 May 1876, following approval of the works by Colonel Frederick Henry Rich, an Inspecting Officer of the Board of Trade.

In 1964, several brand new 'Humber' cars landed on the ground after being blown off their wagons while being carried over the viaduct on a freight train.

The Ribblehead Viaduct

Description

Ribblehead Viaduct is 440 yards long, and 104 feet above the valley floor at its highest point. It is made up of twenty-four arches each of a 45-foot span, with foundations 25 feet deep. Every sixth pier is 50% thicker to mitigate against complete collapse should any pier fail. The north end of the viaduct is 13 feet higher in elevation than the south end leading to a gradient of 1:100. 1.5 million bricks were used in the construction and some of the limestone blocks weigh 8 tons each.

Location

Ribblehead Viaduct is the longest on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Ribblehead railway station is less than half a mile to the south and to the north is the Blea Moor Tunnel, the longest tunnel on line. It is near the foot of Whernside.

The Settle-Carlisle Line is one of three north-south main lines, along with the West Coast Main Line through Penrith and the East Coast Main Line by way of Newcastle. British Rail attempted to close the line in the 1980s, citing the reason that the viaduct was unsafe and would be expensive to repair. A partial solution was to single the line across the viaduct in 1985, preventing two trains from crossing simultaneously. A 30 mph speed limit is also in force. The closure proposals generated tremendous protest and were eventually retracted. The viaduct, along with the rest of the line, was repaired and maintained and there are no longer any plans to close it.

Two taller viaducts on the route are Smardale Viaduct at 131 feet high near to Crosby Garrett, and Arten Gill at 117 feet.

Use

In 2016 the line and viaduct carries six passenger trains from Leeds to Carlisle each day in each direction, plus regular long distance excursions, many hauled by steam locomotives. Regular diesel-hauled heavy freight trains also use the route to help reduce congestion on the West Coast Main Line. Colas Rail operate a timber train most Friday afternoons which passes over the Viaduct when it departs its yard opposite Ribblehead railway station. The combination of the rarely seen timber train and the British Rail Class 56 locomotives used to pull the train has built quite an enthusiastic following.

In popular culture

The building of the viaduct was the inspiration behind the ITV period drama series Jericho (2016). The viaduct appears in the 1970 film No Blade of Grass and also in the 2012 film Sightseers.

Pictures

The Ribbelehead Viaduct

Ingleborough seen through an arch of the viaduct

Close-up of an arch of the viaduct

The Viaduct, looking northwards

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ribblehead Viaduct)

• Pictures of the viaduct at the BBC
• Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle-Carlisle line
• "Tasmanian who played an important role in the early history of Settle-Carlisle railway". Craven Herald and Pioneer. 5 January 2013. http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/nostalgia/nostalgia_history/10139882.Tasmanian_who_played_an_important_role_in_the_early_history_of_Settle_Carlisle_railway/. 
• National Heritage List 10209815: Grade II*
• Pictures of The Ribblehead Viaduct and the area on Geograph.co.uk

Bibliography

• Baughan, Peter E (1966). North of Leeds: The Leeds-Settle-Carlisle Line and its Branches. Hatch End: Roundhouse Books. 
• Williams, Frederick Smeeton (26 April 2012) [1876]. The Midland Railway: Its rise and progress. Cambridge University Press. pp. 490–498. ISBN 978-1-108-05036-4. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=A53CQr-HjQsC&dq=The+Midland+railway:+its+rise+and+progress&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
• Mitchell, William Reginald; Fox, Peter (1 May 1990). The Story of Ribblehead Viaduct. Kingfisher Productions. ISBN 9781871064087. 
• Brooke, David (1 January 1983). The Railway Navvy: That Despicable Race of Men. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. pp. 41–47, 51-54 et al.. ISBN 9780715384497.