Martholme Viaduct

Martholme Viaduct
Martholme Viaduct
Coordinates	53°48′01″N 2°22′44″W / 53.8004°N 2.3788°W
Crosses	River Calder, Lancashire
Characteristics
Material	Sandstone rubble
Height	65 feet (20 m)
No. of spans	10
History
Engineering design by	Sturges Meek
Constructed by	Thomas Stone & Son
Construction start	1870
Construction end	1877
Closed	1957
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated	9 March 1984
Reference no.	1362005
Location

Martholme Viaduct is a 19th-century railway viaduct in the English county of Lancashire. It lies between the town of Great Harwood, in the district of Hyndburn, and the village of Read, in the adjacent Ribble Valley district. As the river that it crosses marks the boundary, the viaduct is thus situated in both those districts.^[1]

Designed by Sturges Meek,^[2] Chief Engineer of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, it was built between 1870 and 1877 to carry the Great Harwood Loop (also known as the North Lancashire Loop) of the East Lancashire Line over the River Calder. That part of the line closed in 1957.^[3]

The viaduct was originally intended to be a wooden construction, but was eventually built in sandstone rubble. It has ten round arches, each with a span of 40 feet (12 m), and was designed on a slight curve; it is 65 feet (20 m) high. In 1984 it was designated a Grade II listed structure by the organisation then known as English Heritage (now Historic England).^[3]