The Folkstone Viaduct on the South Eastern railway. [Click on image to enlarge it.] Source: The Illustrated London News (1843), which comments,
The work which surpasses all others in architectural importance is the stupendous viaduct on the northern side of the town. This imposing structure of which we have given a perspective view, was designed by Mr William Cubbitt, and its construction it highly creditable to his talents as a scientific practical engineer.
The viaduct crosses the valley of the river Foord — close to the town of Folkstone; it is reared upon nineteen arches of uniform span, viz. thirty feet, and in the centre, the height above the mill-stream, which flows under it, is not less than 100 feet. It is, however, only for the space of five or six arches that the altitude — or rather depth from the level of the viaduct parapet — is of this extraordinary character, the height of the piers decreasing according to the acclivity of the banks. The entire length of this land-bridge, or viaduct, is 758 feet. Lightness and loftiness are the prevailing characteristics of this noble work, the piers being of exceedingly slender proportions — not more than six feet in breadth, or one fifth of that of the arches, notwithstanding their prodigious height in comparison with that of a bridge of the usual kind. One fact may convey a notion of tbe wonderful lightness, is connection with extraordinary compactness and stability of construction, which tbe engineer has achieved to the structure of this bridge, and which we believe to be without parallel—the pressure of tbe entire structure is not more than 1200 lbs. on the square foot.
Related material
- Great Joint Station of the Croydon, Brighton, and Dover Railway Company, Southwark
- First Folkstone Train Passing the Blechingley Tunnel
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Bibliography
“The Completion of the South Eastern Railway.” The Illustrated London News. (1 July 1843): 76.
Last modified 27 November 2015