Day 63 – 365 / March 4th 2015

Today’s “365” project image is of Lockwood Viaduct near Huddersfield and was taken while I was on site removing graphics from a clients office windows.

The location is Lockwood Park, currently the home of Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club.

Lockwood Viaduct was built across the Holme Valley between 1846 and 1849 for use by the Huddersfield and Penistone Railway. It cost £33,000.

It is 1,428’ long and 136’ high and is built with the stone obtained from the two cuttings immediately to the south. 5.5 million cubic feet were removed.

The viaduct has 32 semi-circular arches of 30’ span with an oblique arch of 70’ span over the Meltham road and a 42’ span over the Holmfirth road.

All the piers have the same thickness – 4’6” at the springing of the arches and had a batter (inclination from the vertical) of one-sixth of an inch per foot.

It contains 972,000 cubic feet of masonry in the style of “snecked rubble” (Snecked rubble is a form of wall construction in which squared and often finely-dressed stones are laid in an irregular manner. The coursing is broken up by smaller stones called snecks).

The 13 miles of track between Huddersfield and Penistone involved 6 tunnels (10,281’ in total), four major viaducts and 30 bridges.

Information from M.Slack, The Bridges of Lancashire and Cheshire, Hale, 1986.

Lockwood Park used to be the site of Bentley and Shaw’s Brewery. In 1795, Timothy Bentley built the brewery by the Horse Bank Spring, a common water source on the Meltham Road, Lockwood.

By the 1840s, the brewery covered 70 acres and had its own fire brigade and gas works. The Bentley family home was built within the brewery grounds.

Around 1841, the business passed to Timothy’s grandsons: Henry Bentley, John Robert Bentley and Bentley Shaw.

The business was so successful that, by 1869, it began to consume a large proportion of the spring water, to the annoyance of the local residents.

In 1944, the business was taken over by Hammonds United Breweries of Bradford.

The business closed in the 1960’s and the brewery was demolished in 1975.