Braithwaite Viaduct
in Shoreditch, London.
The versatile engineer John Braithwaite was Engineer-in-chief for construction of the Eastern Counties Railway.
The railway was taken into the Shoreditch Station terminus, close to the City of London, on two lanes of tracks on a brick viaduct about 2km long, constructed between 1839 and 1842.
The passenger station became obsolete with the construction of Liverpool Street Station. However the western end of the viaduct served as the 'spine' of Bishopsgate Goods Yard, to be flanked by new structures constructed between 1877 and 1881.
The surviving part of the viaduct, about 260m long, has acquired the name 'Braithwaite Viaduct'. It is an early example of a long viaduct taking an elevated railway into a city terminus.
Currently (2023) parts of the viaduct can be seen from Braithwaite Street (formerly Wheler Street), which passes under the former goods yard and under the new overground East London Line.
The eastern end is truncated at Brick Lane, where the remains of the 1877-81 viaduct which flanked Braithwaite's can be seen.
The Historic England official entry for Braithwaite Viaduct[1] states that 'The gates and forecourt walls of the Goodsyard are already listed. None of the other buildings or structures on the site (including structures adjoining the Viaduct) are of special interest.' In fact the 1881 extension of the south side of the yard at the Brick Lane end includes iron plate girders of an unusual form, which surely deserve recognition.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [2] Historic England Research Records - Braithwaite Viaduct