Hockley Railway Viaduct
| Hockley Railway Viaduct | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 The Hockley Railway Viaduct | |
| Location | |
| Crossing: | River Itchen |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU47742668 |
| Location: | 51°2’15"N, 1°19’14"W |
| Structure | |
| Length: | 2,014 feet |
| Material: | brick clad concrete |
| History | |
| Built 1891 | |
| Architect: | W. R. Galbraith |
| Information | |
The Hockley Railway Viaduct is a disused railway viaduct crossing the River Itchen to the south of Winchester, in Hampshire.
History
The viaduct, originally called the Shawford Viaduct, was built in the late 1880s by the London and South Western Railway. It provided a link over the River Itchen and its water meadows, from the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway, to the London and South Western's main line. The Didcot line was originally intended to continue down the east side of the Itchen to Southampton, but had stalled at Winchester due to lack of funds. The viaduct crossed the valley to link the two lines.[1]
The viaduct was last used by the railway on 2 April 1966. The line it carried closed as a result of the Beeching Axe,[1] although all of it, with the exception of a few bricks on the walls, is still standing and is open to walkers and cyclists. It forms part of the National Cycle Network Route 23.[2]
Construction
The structure has 33 spans. Although it appears to be a brick structure, the viaduct in fact has a solid concrete core in its pillars, with the bricks simply performing an aesthetic function.[3] The bricks came from the Poole Brickworks in Wellington, Somerset, and the blue engineering capping bricks from Blanchards at Bishop's Waltham.[4] It was long suspected that the viaduct's structure contained concrete, but not until recent borings into the structure were made was it realised that the majority of the bridge was made of the material. This makes it amongst the earliest modern structures to have a solid concrete core.
Outside links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sands, T R (1971). The Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway.. Blandford Forum: Oakwood Press. p. 31.
- ↑ "Route 23". https://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/route-23. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- ↑ Mitchell, Vic; Robertson, Kevin (1998). Country Railway Routes, Didcot to Winchester. Midhurst: Middleton Press. fig. 116. ISBN 1 901706 13 3.
- ↑ "Newsletter Number 9". http://www.chrissellen.taureans.co.uk/index_files/FOHV/index_files/Newsletter_No_9.pdf. Retrieved 11 May 2018.