Building record 408/1/14 - Helmdon Viaduct

The Helmdon Viaduct was built for Great Central Railway established in 1892. The viaduct was completed in 1897. The Helmdon viaduct is a typical example of the brick viaducts of the Great Central Railway. It provides a crossing point 100m above the river Tove and the Northampton to Banbury Junction railway. It is built to a standard design of red brick and has nine arches. Each arch is decorated with six courses of arched brindles and supported on piers, each decorated with five rings of brindles. To the north of the viaduct the P-way hut, where track workers stored thier equipment, survives but has lost much of its fabric.

{1} Viaduct constructed on the former Great Central Railway line built in 1899 and closed in 1966. Nine arch blue brick viaduct over the stream as well as the track bed of the former Stratford and Midland Junction Railway.

{3} The Helmdon viaduct was built for Great Central Railway established in 1892, and therefore a late addition to the railway network. Consequently, the viaduct is a late example completed in 1897. The line was innovatively designed for speed of travel by reducing the number of bends and station halts and using tunnels and bridges to cross both rural and urban landscapes. Although the company never recouped its construction costs, the railway was esteemed for its high speed and punctuality.

The project for the Great Central Railway created a new line linking the Midlands and the industrial north through London to the south coast ports, opening international markets to the north by rail, with the emphasis on speed, and was the last main line of the steam age to be constructed. The Helmdon viaduct is a typical example of the brick viaducts of the Great Central Railway. It provides a crossing point 100m above the river Tove and the Northampton to Banbury Junction railway, and is one of a series of bridges and viaducts carrying the railway across the open countryside. It is constructed of red brick made at the Sulgrave brick factory in close proximity to the viaduct, producing twelve million bricks during the three years it took to build the viaduct. It is of standard design, architecturally similar to the bridges constructed at Catesby and Brackley, and of nine arches, each spanning 34ft and 3in, each decorated with six courses of arched brindles and supported on piers, each decorated with five rings of brindles. The viaduct was set in cement foundations and the interior incorporated recessed refuge alcoves.

The Helmdon viaduct is one of the longer surviving viaducts of the Great Central Railway and representative of the company's functional designs. It is claimed that only four of the 118 bridges and viaducts of the Great Central Railway, including that at Helmdon demonstrate the same construction techniques. Helmdon being the only viaduct remaining in the locality, of seven in total built by the Great Central Railway Company, the most impressive of which was Brackley, formed of 22 arches and 1.5 miles long, demolished in 1974. That at Catesby is of 12 arches and is thought to be structurally unsound.

The survival of the P-way hut, where track workers stored their equipment, to the north of the viaduct, adds context and interest, but it has lost much of its fabric and does not meet the criteria for listing.

<1> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 2001, A Guide To The Industrial Heritage Of Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Gazetteer). SNN104759.

<2> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 1996-2013, Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group Newsletter, Issue 117 p.7 (unchecked) (Newsletter). SNN55360.

<3> ENGISH HERITAGE, English Heritage Listing File, Designation Adviser, 4th Janaury 2011 (Report). SNN111579.

Record last edited

Feb 1 2024 9:04AM