Thrill for railway fans as two British bridges given protected status

One of the world’s oldest surviving railway tunnels and the oldest cast-iron railway bridge still in its original place have been given protected status.

The Crawshaw Woods Bridge in Yorkshire, the oldest cast-iron railway bridge still in-situ has been listed at Grade II. Image by English Heritage/PA Wire

Fritchley Tunnel in Derbyshire, which dates back to 1793, has been scheduled as an ancient monument, while Crawshaw Woods Bridge, near Leeds, which was built between 1803 and 1834, has been given Grade II listed status.

Derbyshire’s Fritchley Tunnel was built in 1793 by Benjamin Outram as part of the Butterley Gangroad and recently acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records as one of the oldest surviving railway tunnels in the world. Image by English Heritage/PA Wire

The tunnel, built of sandstone blocks and stretching 25 metres, was built in 1793 by Benjamin Outram as part of the Butterley Gangroad.

It was originally used by horse-drawn wagons carrying limestone from quarries on an early type of railway to pass under a busy road junction.

But in 1813 a walking steam locomotive replaced the wagons, making it one of the first railways in the world where such an engine worked successfully, English Heritage said.

The tunnel has been acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records to be the oldest surviving railway tunnel in the world, though experts suggest others could date from around the same time.

Crawshaw Woods Bridge was designed by Scottish engineer James Walker and is thought to be the earliest cast-iron bridge in the world still in-situ over a working railway.

It was constructed by Stanningley Ironworks for the Leeds and Selby Railway, one of the pioneering lines in the early years of railway development, and is nationally and internationally important because all pre-1840 railway structures are among the earliest in the world, English Heritage said.

(Press Association)