|
The
Castlefield Viaducts
In Castlefield there is a
number of former and present railway viaducts
criss-crossing over and below each other.
They once carried trains over the Bridgewater
Canal basin in Castlefield and on to Central
Station, the LNER goods station (now the Great
Northern Warehouse), Oxford Road Station and
Manchester Piccadilly. Once Central Station
and the LNER goods station closed the tracks on
some of the viaducts were removed leavimg parts of
some of the viaducts empty and unused. The
railway and tram networks still use some of the
viaducts.
 One of the viaducts, built in
1892 and designed by Heenan & Froude (the
same engineering company behind Blackpool Tower), is now Grade
II listed. In 2021
the National Trust announced plans to create
a so called sky park on the viaduct.
Inspired no doubt by the "High Line" in New
York. The Trust says that its plan
involved .. "
Creating an accessible green space in the
heart of the city is a key part of the
viaduct project, and one of our aims is to
develop an interesting and nature-filled
retreat all year round.The selection of
plants in the viaduct garden has been
inspired by the existing vegetation which
has claimed this industrial structure, and
we’re also trying out new planting
techniques, working with limited growing
depths and untested growing conditions. The
planting will take a little while to
establish, so it may take a few seasons
before the garden is fully developed."
In July 2023, the National Trust was granted an
extension by Manchester
City Council to
keep the sky park open until autumn 2024. In the
meantime, landscape architects BDP are to
develop plans for the next phase of the viaduct.
          ************************************ On Bridgewater Street, just
off Deansgate, you will find this rather odd
railway viaduct going nowhere. The wall
behind the blue van is made of the kind of ceramic
glazed bricks commonly found under railway bridges
but there isn't a bridge.
 However, as you can see in
the aerial photographs below, dated 1953, there
used to be one carrying the railway lines first
over Bridgewater Street and then Deansgate into
the LNER Goods Depot. The red arrow below
indicates the site of the truncated viaduct
pictured above.
  The viaduct
crossed Deansgate at the point shown below
skirting just to the left of the Deansgate pub and
Trafford Street, which is beside it, and then on
through what is today the base of the Beetham
Hilton Tower.
 If you click on
the link below you can see the viaduct crossing
Deansgate in 1909. The Deansgate pub can be
seen on the left beyond the bridge.
Deansgate 1909
The Railway Depot
is no longer there but remnants of it have been
converted into the "Great Northern Experience"
entertainment and shopping centre.
 |