Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 578435
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/578435
An impressive masonry viaduct over Slitrig Water with 15x34 ft semicircular arch spans up to 35 ft high, built
from 1859 to 1862 in bleak and sparsely populated hill country for the Border Union Railway. The viaduct,
which has been extensively repaired with brick patching, formed part of the legendary North British ‘Waverley
Route’ through Sir Walter Scott country, officially opened between Edinburgh and Carlisle on 1 July 1862 and
closed in 1969. The viaduct formed part of the Whitrope contract which extended south for about 412 miles and included Whitrope Tunnel. The designer, according to the current inventory, was Charles Jopp and the contractor, William Ritson. The present owner is BRB (Residuary Ltd) who intend to waterproof the structure in 2007. In 2000 repair work of pinning, grouting and brick replacement helped to preserve the viaduct.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
