Ribblehead Viaduct
Interesting facts
- Every sixth pier is half as thick again as the others, so that if one pier failed only a section of arches would fall rather than the whole viaduct.
- In 1964 the wind on Batty Moss was strong enough to blow several new Humber cars off the wagons of a freight train crossing the viaduct.
- Around 1.5 million bricks went into the arches, each built in five rings, while some of the limestone facing blocks weigh up to eight tons.
- About 200 burials were recorded in the small churchyard at Chapel-le-Dale during the years the viaduct and the line nearby were being built.
- The original contractor, John Ashwell, had his contract cancelled in October 1871, and the Midland Railway finished the work largely on its own account.
- By 1981 water had weakened the piers so badly that trains were limited to 20 mph and the line across the viaduct was reduced to a single track.
- The rail level sits at roughly 980 feet above sea level, and the viaduct curves gently along a radius of about 0.85 miles.
- Though the longest structure on the Settle–Carlisle line, it is only its third tallest, after the Smardale and Arten Gill viaducts.
- The viaduct appears in the 1970 film No Blade of Grass and the 2012 comedy Sightseers, and its construction inspired the 2016 ITV drama Jericho.
- A restoration costing about £2.1 million began in 2020, renewing mortar and replacing worn stone on the piers and arches.
Why it is worth it
The Ribblehead Viaduct carries the Settle–Carlisle railway across Batty Moss, a broad, wind-scoured bog at the head of Ribblesdale in the Yorkshire Dales. It is 402 metres long, stands 32 metres above the moor at its highest and runs on 24 arches, each spanning about 14 metres, their piers set on foundations sunk some 7.5 metres into the ground. Seen from below, with the flat top of Ingleborough on one side and the long ridge of Whernside on the other, it is one of the great images of Victorian engineering in open country.
The line was the Midland Railway's bid for its own route to Scotland, and the viaduct was designed by its chief engineer, John Sydney Crossley. The first stone was laid on 12 October 1870, the work was finished by the end of 1874, and goods trains began crossing in August 1875, with passenger services following in May 1876. Up to 2,300 navvies worked on this section, living with their families in shanty settlements on the moor with names like Batty Wife Hole, Sebastopol and Belgravia. More than a hundred died from accidents, fights and smallpox.
In the 1980s the viaduct's condition became the main argument for closing the whole line, and British Rail proposed exactly that. A long public campaign and a fresh look at the engineering saved the railway in 1989, and the viaduct was repaired. It has been Grade II* listed since 1988, and the remains of the construction camps around it are a scheduled monument.
Getting there
The viaduct is about ten minutes' walk from Ribblehead station, which has trains on the Settle–Carlisle line from Leeds, Skipton, Settle and Carlisle. The town of Kendal is about 28 km away, and Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) about 60 km.
Plan your visit
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Nearby places
- Malham Cove 20.8 km · cliff
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Ribblehead Viaduct or Batty Moss Viaduct carries the Settle–Carlisle railway across Batty Moss in the Ribble Valley at Ribblehead, in North Yorkshire, England. The viaduct, built by the Midland Railway, is 28 miles (45 km) north-west of Skipton and 26 miles (42 km) south-east of Kendal. It is a Grade II* listed structure. Ribblehead Viaduct is the longest and the third tallest structure on the Settle–Carlisle line.
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