The rehabilitation of a Victorian clay brick railway viaduct

Larpool viaduct is a 13 span clay brick viaduct built between 1882 and 1884 to carry the Scarborough and Whitby railway across the picturesque Esk Valley in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. The structure is of multi-ring clay brick arch construction supported on solid brickwork piers founded on mass concrete or concrete filled brickwork caissons. The railway was closed to rail traffic in 1965 but was re-opened to pedestrian and cycle traffic in 2000; it is now part of a regional sustainable transport network used mainly by tourists. Exposure to wind, driving rain and repeated freeze-thaw cycles has resulted in severe spalling of some of the brickwork, particularly that from the 30m high piers. This paper describes the original construction, the rehabilitation works including the historical context of the structure, site inspections prior to and during construction and a review of the rehabilitation works taking into account factors such as differential movement and the need to achieve a high standard of workmanship.