I
do love wandering around bits of our industrial past, whether that be an old
railway, a derelict factory, old mineworks or a repurposed power station. On a stroll from Roslin to the outskirts of
Edinburgh, I walked over a piece of our industrial heritage – Bilston Glen
Viaduct, or as locals refer to it, the Bilston Climbing Frame. Wandering down a steep and narrow path under
the viaduct I could see why it had acquired that name with the criss-crossing
of the iron lattice work underneath.
Bilston
Glen Viaduct is an old iron railway bridge above the steep gorge of Bilston
Glen. The Edinburgh, Loanhead and Roslin Railway used to run across it. This railway carried coal and ironstone from
mines at Penicuik, Roslin, Bilston, Loanhead and Gilmerton. It also carried passengers to Roslin.
The
viaduct was built in 1892, and replaced an earlier
one built at the same spot in the 1870s.
It appears that there had been concerns about the earlier bridge due to
movements of the ground caused by the mineworks. Concerns were also raised about the design of
that bridge, as it had been designed by Sir Thomas Bouch, the designer of the
infamous Tay Bridge that had collapsed in 1879.
Bilston
Glen Viaduct was built with a single deep wrought iron span supported on low
piers with granite abutments at each end to support it. The separate pieces of the bridge were all
made in Glasgow and then brought out to the site where the bridge was then
assembled. As the viaduct is made of
iron it expands and contracts in the heat.
On a hot summer’s day, it could be up to 2 ½ inches longer than it was
on a cold winter’s day. To avoid this
damaging the supports, the bridge was fitted with expansion mountings. These allow the bridge to move.
In 1969 the section of the railway that ran
over the viaduct was closed. In 1999
restoration work was carried out on the viaduct and it opened again as part of
the walkway that follows the old railway line.
While
wandering around under the viaduct, I left a Skulferatu in a gap in the granite
stonework of the abutments supporting it.
The
coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –
Latitude
55.87089
Longitude
-3.150976
what3words:
herb.windmill.widen
I used the
following sources for information on Bilston Glen Viaduct –
