Monument record MDR5807 - Bennerley Viaduct, Ilkeston

Viaduct (NAT) appears on the OS map of 1982. (1) Bennerley Viaduct is a railway viaduct that is now disused. It was built in 1878-9 by Richard Johnson, made by Eastwood Swingler, for the Great Northern Railway. Grade II*. (2) Impressive latticework wrought iron viaduct of c. 1879, almost 500 yards long, which carried the former Great Northern Railway Derbyshire extension (closed c. 1973) across the Nottingham Canal, the river Erewash (the county boundary), the Midland Railway Erewash Valley main line and the Erewash Canal. It has 14 latticework piers and three brick piers. For several years it was under threat of demolition. (3) The Bennerley Viaduct straddles the Erewash Valley and the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire county boundary. It is more than 600 yards long, running at least 50ft above the valley. It crosses the River Erewash, the Erewash Canal and the main railway line between London and Sheffield. It was built in 1878 as part of the Great Northern Railway line from Nottingham to Derby and closed to through traffic in 1968. It is one of only two remaining British examples of 19th century wrought-iron truss-girder railway viaducts and exemplifies the technique. It faced demolition in the late 1970s/early 1980s but in 1986 proposals for its incorporation into a cycle route or trail were being examined. (4) Bennerley Viaduct is one of two surviving examples of the great metal viaducts that carried many railways across deep valleys in the later part of the 19th century. The earliest railways tended to follow valleys where possible, but later routes often ran against the grain of the land, and many used iron or steel viaducts to bridge valleys at high levels. Bennerley was one of the longest of these structures. The viaduct was listed in 1974, and applications to demolish it were subsequently refused. In 1998 Rail Property Ltd transferred the bridge to the ownership of Sustrans' subsidiary company, Railway Paths Ltd (RPL), and since then RPL has sought a way to reopen it to cycle and pedestrian use. The Railway Trust has given four grants over the years towards holding the condition of the bridge, totalling some £152,000. Although these helped maintain it, they did not allow reopening. During 2016/17 the Railway Trust funded a detailed survey of the viaduct's condition, which allows RPL to understand the works needed to restore its heritage value. The grant has also permitted the removal of the former maintenance gantry, and brickwork repairs to the column bases, which were suffering from weather and vandalism. RPL is working towards a full Heritage Lottery Fund bid in late 2017, which will finally create the long-sought cycle and walking route across the viaduct by adding a new surface and recreating the ramps at either end. (6)