Wolverton Viaduct
WOLVERTON VIADUCT
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1389687
- Date first listed:
- 18-Jul-2001
- List Entry Name:
- Wolverton Viaduct
- Statutory Address:
- WOLVERTON VIADUCT
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1389687
- Date first listed:
- 18-Jul-2001
- List Entry Name:
- Wolverton Viaduct
- Statutory Address 1:
- WOLVERTON VIADUCT
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- WOLVERTON VIADUCT
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Milton Keynes (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Haversham-cum-Little Linford
- National Grid Reference:
- SP8154442200
Details
891/0/10007
18-JUL-01
HAVERSHAM CUM LITTLE LINFORD
Wolverton Viaduct
II
Railway viaduct. Built 1837-8 for the London and Birmingham Railway, engineer Robert Stephenson, widened on the east side 1878-82 by the London and North Western Railway to accommodate two additional lines. Built in red brick in English bond, repaired in blue engineering bricks with red sandstone dressings. Blue engineering brick used throughout in the widened part. The viaduct is 201m long and 17.4m high and has six elliptical main arches, 18.3m wide on high rectangular piers with D-shaped cutwaters at their bases with semi-domed caps. The structure is finished with a prominent stone cornice and a stone-coped parapet; this was broken for refuges and had steel catenaries added at electrification in 1958. The six main arches are framed by giant pilaster buttresses with extra stonework of a frieze band and over sized dentils to cornice. The abutments are pierced by three smaller round-heeded arches above impost bands and a further semi-buried, round-headed arch at either end.
History: The viaduct was built by the London and Birmingham Railway, now the West Coast mainline, over the valley of the river Great Ouse. The line became a part of the London and North Western Railway in 1846, and of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. It is the most impressive of the several viaducts on the line, being taller, more elaborately treated and with wider arches. It was one of the principal landmarks of the first trunk railway and one of the earliest viaducts on this scale. The line was quadrupled in 1879-82 and the viaduct was widened by 9.5m to accommodate the extra tracks, the joint can be clearly seen as the structures are not bonded together. Despite this widening the viaduct remains little altered in appearance, apart from the addition of the electric catenaries in 1958.
References: Information from Milton Keynes Borough Council.
J C Bourne, Drawings of the London and Birmingham Railway, London, 1839, pl 24.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 488395
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 18:10:14.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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