Wicker Arches
The Wicker Arches form a 660-yard long railway viaduct across the Don Valley in the City of Sheffield.
They take their name from the thoroughfare named The Wicker, which passes through the main arch of the viaduct.
The viaduct was built in 1848 to extend the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway from its previous terminus at Bridgehouses. The requirements were laid down by John Fowler, but because of its prominent position in the city, he employed a firm of architects, Weightman, Hadfield and Goldie, to manage the detailed design.
The design was then constructed by Miller, Blackie and Shortridge, and consisted of 41 arches. The arch which crosses the Wicker provides 30 feet of headroom and spans 72 feet. On either side are smaller arches around 12 feet high, with heraldic decoration in the stonework above them. Many of the arches are now concealed by buildings.
Later a part of the Great Central Railway, the viaduct supported Sheffield Victoria Station.
Main line rail passenger services crossing the Wicker Arches ceased in January 1970 with the closure of Sheffield Victoria and its service to Manchester, however the viaduct still carried the local services to Huddersfield via Penistone until they too were diverted, via Barnsley, in the 1980s.
1849 'The Sheffield viaduct is the great work of the Lincolnshire line. It commences immediately on leaving the Bridgehouses station for the eastward, and stretches a length of 660 yards across the valley of the Dun. Its greatest stride is by one magnificent arch of 72 feet span across the Wicker road. It then crosses the river and the canal, till it reaches the high ground on the east bank of the canal. This viaduct contains a greater amount of masonry by far than any similar work in England. Of its magnitude, the following figures give but a faint idea. The excavations for the foundations amount to 34,000 cubic yards. There are 70,000 cubic yards of rubble work, and 250,000 cubic feet of ashlar masonry. It is calculated that there is in this viaduct as much masonry as in two thousand turnpike road bridges, or seven hundred large parish churches. In addition to the viaduct, piers have been built for a station, covering about four acres. This is now in progress, and is expected to be so far completed as to be opened for passengers in about six months. The Sheffield viaduct has been built by Messrs. Miller, Blackie, and Shortridge, and was commenced in May, 1847. Notwithstanding the delay occasioned by the financial pressure of the times, it was ready for opening in about nineteen mouths. The viaduct had cost up to the time of its opening about £80,000, but more than half of this outlay had been incurred, not for the sake of the viaduct proper, but with a view to the passenger station. The facility for obtaining stone has rendered this great work remarkable for its cheapness, as much as for its extent. Leaving this viaduct, the only work of importance before we reach the Rother viaduct, is the Handsworth tunnel, 374 yards in length.... '[1]
The northern part of the viaduct is shown on the bottom RH corner of the 1851/3 O.S. map here[2]. Immediately north of the Wicker Arches, on Spital Hill, was the Wicker Steel and Iron Works of Walker, Eaton and Co. Across the road from there was Sheffield Midland Railway Station. Continuing south eastwards, map here, the viaduct widens when crossing the River Don, to accommodate Victoria Station, and then (map here), the masonry viaduct, now named Victoria Viaduct, cuts through the Sheaf Works (steel and iron) before crossing the Sheffield Canal. Continuing eastwards across the river, the line passed through an area called Sheffield Park. The presence here of a large house and garden, called Park Cottage, harks back to an earlier era, the area now being characterised by brick fields and by coke ovens fed by the Sheffield Colliery (located on Blast Lane, next to the river, and connected to the MS&LR.
Two masonry arches carried the lines over the River Don, but at some point the bridge was widened on the south side by lattice girder spans. An interesting modern addition is the construction of a footbridge carrying the Five Weirs Walk under the railway bridge. See Google Street View here.
Returning to the Sheaf Works, crossed by the viaduct, the site has been further dissected by a dual carriageway, but fortunately a grand building has survived at the south end of the site. Resembling a fine Georgian stately home more than a factory building, it is a listed building, named The Sheaf Quay. Photo here. A tall square factory chimney has also survived. The premises are well illustrated in a superb old advertisement produced by Thomas Turton and Sons. This also shows a very primitive open coal pit at the Sheffield Colliery.
The 1889 O.S. Town Plan here[3] clearly shows Victoria Station and, alongside, the small Darley Works (Iron & Steel).
See Also
Sources of Information
- [3] Wikipedia