Bennerley Viaduct


Bennerley Viaduct is a disused railway viaduct spanning the Erewash Valley between Awsworth and Ilkeston in central England. Restoration work to create a public walkway scheduled to start from March 2020 was quickly suspended due to industry lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bennerley was built in 1877 but closed to rail traffic in 1968, as part of the Beeching cuts. It was sold to conservation group Railway Paths Ltd in 1998.
The viaduct is a Grade II* listed structure, and is on the Heritage at risk register published by Historic England. It was also included into the 2020 World Monuments Watch. Small stages of restoration started in mid 2014. Planned improvements include new decking to join into a network of existing public paths, subject to planning consents for the required works and access construction.

Origins

This wrought iron lattice work viaduct is 1452 feet long with the rails 60 feet 10 inches above the Erewash River. Most railway viaducts at the time were brick-built but the foundations of the Bennerley Viaduct were subject to a great deal of coal mining subsidence therefore, the lighter wrought iron design was chosen.
The viaduct was built between May 1876 and November 1877 and formed part of the Great Northern Railway Derbyshire Extension which was built in part to exploit the coalfields in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The contract was given by the Great Northern Railway to Benton & Woodiwiss with the line laid out by, and the viaduct designed by Richard Johnson ; Samuel Abbott was the resident engineer. The viaduct consists of 16 lattice work deck spans, each 76 feet 7 inches long supported on wrought-iron columns with stone capped blue brick foundations. There were three additional iron skew spans at the Ilkeston end of the viaduct which carried the railway line over the Erewash Canal and the Midland Railway's Erewash Valley Line. A skew span crosses its abutments and or piers at an angle other than a right angle.
At the Awsworth end of the viaduct there was a section of embankment which has been demolished. The Nottingham Canal passed under this section. The viaduct was built for the railway line between Awsworth Junction and Derby on the Derbyshire and Staffordshire Line and opened in January 1878. Bennerley Ironworks was originally due north of the viaduct served by sidings connected to both the Great Northern line and the Midland Railway Erewash Valley line. After the demolition of the ironworks a British Coal distribution depot served by sidings from the former Midland Railway occupied the same site. This has now also been demolished.

Airship bombing raid

On 31 January 1916, nine Zeppelin airships of the German Airship Naval Division conducted a bombing raid over the British Midlands known as the Great Midlands Raid. One of these airships, the L.20 based at Tondern in Schleswig and commanded by Kapitänleutnant Stabbert, conducted a bombing raid in the area around the Bennerley viaduct. Seven high-explosive bombs were dropped in the vicinity, one of which fell just to the north of the viaduct on the Midland Railway line at Bennerley Junction, which served Bennerley Ironworks.
Damage was caused to the Midland line, but the viaduct emerged unscathed. Later during the same raid the L.20 dropped fifteen bombs onto the nearby Stanton Ironworks, one of which damaged a railway bridge crossing the Nutbrook Canal. On 4 May 1916 after a second air raid over England, the L.20 ran out of fuel and crash-landed near Stavanger in Norway.

Giltbrook Viaduct

At Awsworth Junction the railway branched, one line passed over the Bennerley Viaduct as described, the other turned North towards Pinxton crossing the Giltbrook Viaduct. This viaduct was also designed by Richard Johnson and built of red bricks used to create 43 arched spans with a total length of 1716 feet and a height of 60 feet.

Other wrought iron viaducts

Bennerley viaduct's wrought iron construction saved it from demolition. The demolition contractors who tendered for the contract to demolish the viaduct put forward amounts which were considered too high. The reason given for the high cost was that wrought iron structures could not be cut up with an oxy-acetylene torch and would have to be taken apart rivet by rivet.
The viaduct survived to become a grade II* listed structure. It is on the Buildings at Risk Register. The similar Meldon Viaduct was refurbished in 1996 and is now part of The Granite Way, a cycling and walking path in Devon.

Restoration

Following privatisation of British Rail in 1997, there was a desire to release redundant railway assets from Government ownership. In 1998 Bennerley Viaduct was purchased from British Railways Board by Railway Paths Ltd. The viaduct is managed by Sustrans who hoped to use it as part of the National Cycle Network for the benefit of walkers and cyclists in a similar way to the Meldon Viaduct. In 2015 Sustrans received a grant of £40,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to engage with the local community and plan the next phase of restoration work.
In 2017 Sustrans applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a second larger grant to finance restoration and associated works, but this was rejected. Sustrans initially planned to submit a revised application but match funding was not available so Sustrans management decided not pursue the project.
The Friends of Bennerley Viaduct is a local group of volunteers formed with the aim of preserving the viaduct and adding it to the National Cycle Network for public benefit. Work on the viaduct by the friends group has included:
Planning applications for change of use and access works have been submitted to Broxtowe and Erewash councils.
It was announced in April 2019 that funds had been secured for the restoration, with the aim of completing it by the end of 2020. It was revealed via a BBC News report in February 2020 that additional funding from Historic England would enable work to commence. The viaduct is described as 'a stunning example of the genius of British engineering'. It was named as the only UK location on the 'World Monuments Watch'.
In March 2020, the restorative work schedule was adversely affected by widespread industry lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic within the UK.