Archaeology Notes

Event ID 764796

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/764796

NM68NE 8 69746 85492

For adjacent (to SE) Borrodale Tunnel, see NM69NE 9.

Borrodale Viaduct [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1975.

(Location cited as NM 698 855). Borrodale Burn Viaduct, opened 1901 by the West Highland Extension Rly. A 3-span mass concrete viaduct, with central 127 ft 6 ins (38.8m) span flanked by single 20 ft (6.1m) spans. In its day was the longest mass-concrete span in the world.

J R Hume 1977.

This viaduct was built to carry the West Highland (Extension) Railway across the valley of the Borrodale Burn. The line was opened to traffic on 1 April 1901, absorbed into the North British Rly on 31 December 1908, and remains in use.

The design of the bridge was governed by the requirements of the owner of Arisaig House (NM68NE 3). It comprises a single concrete arch of 127 ft 6 ins (38.9m) span and a pair of stone-dressed side spans of 20 ft (6.1m) each. At its completion, it was the longest concrete span in the world.

M Smith 1994.

A RCAHMS photographic survey, of Borrodale Railway Viaduct, was undertaken in order to enhance and augment the National Monuments Record Scotland holdings.

Visited by RCAHMS(MKO), July 1997.

This viaduct carries the Fort William - Mallaig ('West Highland Extension') railway over the Borrodale Burn 550m NE of Borrodale House (NM68NE 3).

The location assigned to this record defines the apparent midpoint of the curving structure. The available map evidence suggests that it extends feom NM c. 69780 85482 to NM c. 69644 85502.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 10 May 2006.