Building record MDR16469 - Matlock Road Bridge, A6 Matlock Road, Belper

A Grade II, single-span skew overbridge built in 1836-40 for the North Midland Railway. The bridge forms part of a series of railway structures built for the North Midland Railway between 1837 and 1840, designed by George and Robert Stephenson, two of the most important and influential engineers of the railway era, aided by Frederick Swanwick, the company's resident engineer. The line is considered to be amongst the best-preserved examples of the pioneering phase of railway development in England, and retains many of its original engineering structures. An example of the consistently high quality design and careful detailing of railway structures completed for the North Midland Railway between 1837 and 1840, the bridge's aesthetic quality far exceeds the functional and structural requirements of bridge design. Skew arches were designed specifically to meet the requirements of the railway, enabling them to be built in large numbers for the first time. Developments in skew bridges represent a truly innovative engineering solution of the pioneering phase of railway development, and are therefore the first of their kind anywhere in the world. The bridge forms part of an integrated design for the Belper cutting, in which the overbridges and the cutting walls share a common architectural vocabulary, and are seen in combination as elements of a railway transport landscape of great interest and quality. The other ten bridges and the cutting wall are also listed at Grade II. See list description for more detail. (1)