 Chirk Viaduct from Chirk Aqueduct | |
| Coordinates | 52°55′41″N3°03′45″W / 52.92813°N 3.06251°W /52.92813; -3.06251 |
| Carries | Shrewsbury–Chester line |
| Crosses | River Ceiriog |
| Locale | Chirk,Wrexham,Wales andChirk Bank,Shropshire,England |
| Characteristics | |
| Height | 30 metres (98 ft) |
| History | |
| Architect | Henry Robertson |
| Built | 1848 |
| Rebuilt | 1858–1859 (partly) |
| Statistics | |
| Nearest city | Wrexham |
| OS grid reference | SJ286372[1] |
| Built for | Shrewsbury and Chester Railway |
| Current use | Railway viaduct |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Railway Viaduct over River Ceiriog (Cadw) and Chirk Viaduct (Historic England) |
| Designated | 29 July 1998 and 2 September 1987 Amended 29 July 1998 |
| Reference no. | 20210[2] and 1295219[3] (dual-listed) |
| Location | |
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TheChirk Viaduct (Welsh:Traphont y Waun) is aGrade II* listedrailway viaduct over theRiver Ceiriog betweenEngland andWales. The viaduct carries theShrewsbury–Chester line from the Welsh town ofChirk inhistoric Denbighshire from the north to the English village ofChirk Bank inWeston Rhyn,Shropshire to the south. To the east, theChirk Aqueduct lies parallel to the railway viaduct.
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The viaduct was designed byHenry Robertson, chief engineer of theShrewsbury and Chester Railway, to carry therailway line across themeadows of theVale of Ceiriog between Chirk and Chirk Bank partly in both Wales and England.[2][3][1] TheEngland–Wales border bisects the structure at an approximately 45° angle from south-west to north-east. It was built between 1846 and 1848, byThomas Brassey, with it also undergoing a partial rebuilding in 1858–1859. The viaduct runs parallel to theChirk Aqueduct, built in 1801, which lies to the viaduct's east.[2][3] The viaduct was initially built with only ten arches, despite the original design to contain sixteenstone arches. Before construction, the initial sixteen-arch structure was reduced to ten[4] over engineering issues concerning theriver piers. In Robertson's original design it would have required two piers being constructed into the slopes of the valleys either side. Due to the slope's proximity to neighbouring Chirk Aqueduct and the shaky state of itsabutments, it was deemed during the initial construction that constructing two piers would have been dangerous work and expensive. As a result, the design was modified with the viaduct's end piers at the foot of the valley'sbank, converted into an abutment, and a long 36.5-metre (120 ft) laminated timber arch built to connect to the stone viaduct.[4][5][6] The timber arches were later replaced ten years later, with three stone arches at either end added, bringing the total number of arches to sixteen as first designed.[2][3][5]
The viaduct, along with theCefn Viaduct to the north, were built for the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway to address the demand for increasingrail freight transport demand between Wrexham, Chester and Shrewsbury which were not being met by the existingcanal system. The railway line became part of theGreat Western Railway (GWR) in 1854,[7] and was not converted to GWR'sBroad gauge. As of 2024, the railway is owned byNetwork Rail and operated byTransport for Wales Rail.
The viaduct contains rock-facedashlar stone with yellow engineering brick tosoffits of its central section. It stands at 30 metres (98 ft) high above the river,[6][7] with its central section consisting of ten 13.7-metre (45 ft)ellipticalsemicircular arches betweenpedimented abutments, and built in 1848.[2][3] The central arches contain rock-faced pointedvoussoirs, projecting keystones and moulded imposts struck through to soffit;modillionedcornice and plainparapet. The abutments have shallow pediments supported oncorbelled cornices and round-headed niches with mounded impost bands and projecting moulded keystones. There are three further stone arches at each end, which were added in 1858–1859 replacing the pre-existing 36.5-metre (120 ft) timber arches.[2][3][5][7] The viaduct is 260 metres (850 ft) long.[4][6]
