Aqueducts & Viaducts of Britain

Whether seeing an aqueduct or viaduct striding boldly across a landscape or glimpsing it peeping between buildings in a close urban environment it is always a joy. A dramatic statement, previous generations would see it as man conquering nature, it is impossible to ignore. No matter how hard he has worked on other sections of the line, it is the soaring viaduct, or aqueduct, that will carry the engineer’s reputation. The need to maintain levels in what is often challenging topography has left us with many feats of engineering. In this modest book Victoria Owens sets out to describe the development and progress of aqueduct and viaduct design from the earliest canal structures of the 18th century to the road structures of the late 20th century. Inevitably, it is railway viaducts that dominate. She takes a chronological approach, which works well, and has chosen a good selection of over 90 structures representing most of the most outstanding British erections. Each is described in some detail, often with an account of the construction and its problems, often with biographical details of the engineer and contractors, and frequently with human stories and anecdotes that add life. Most are illustrated in colour and the quality of the photographs is generally good, while the full captions also include grid references. A separate chapter highlights the 17 viaducts on the Settle and Carlisle route and the immense difficulties incurred in building them. I do feel that timber viaducts are given short shrift. Granted, there are very few left, but they were once common and Brunel was not the only enthusiast for timber. I may be biased but I would have thought the 42 timber viaducts necessitated by the arduous terrain the Cornwall Railway traversed between Plymouth and Falmouth would have been worth a mention. They were cheap to build but expensive to maintain and it was left to the Great Western to replace them. A few silly slips have crept in that a little care would have avoided. The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway has the names of its eponymous counties in that order. A similar switch occurs with Calstock viaduct where the roles of contractor and engineer are reversed; the London & South Western Railway consulting engineers were the eminent Galbraith & Church, while the contractor was J.C. Lang. There are no references but the book is well researched and has a useful bibliography. The index lists aqueducts, viaducts, engineers and contractors. Attractively produced, it is a good introduction to the subject and a fine record of these magnificent structures.