The railway viaduct at Whalley,Lancashire, UK. I just missed the train that went over seconds before I took this! The longest and largest railway viaduct in Lancashire, Whalley Viaduct’s 48 brick arches stride across the valley of the River Calder, dominating the landscape.
The viaduct was built for the Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe & West Yorkshire Railway and it carries the line 21.3m above the river for a distance of 620m. Plain in appearance, the southern side of the arch nearest the remains of Whalley Abbey bears its only decorative treatment. Flanagan used some Gothic elements here to try to harmonise the structure with the ruins.
More than seven million bricks and 12,338 cubic metres of stone were used to construct the viaduct. Some 3,000 metres of timber was used for the arch centering, temporary platforms and the permanent foundation piles.
During construction, on 6th October 1849, two of the 41 arches then completed collapsed. Sadly, three men lost their lives. Known locally as Whalley Arches. It was a rare sunny day yesterday so I took a trip out. it was too bright for some of the shots i wanted but I managed to get a few nice ones!
Taken with a canon 450D and a canon 10-22mm wide angle lens @ 18mm. Hdr from a single RAW file and tone mapped in photomatix pro. further processed in cs4.
Featured in Beautiful North uk
canon, hdr, inkedsandra, photomatix pro, railway, ribble valley, whalley, whalley viaduct, wide angle
Comments
This is so beautifully done Sandra. The lighting is superb, also the composition. Interesting narrative, and such a pretty place.
Thanks Morag, it was such a difficult day for photography but I felt I had to get out whilst the rain had stopped! I didn’t get a lot of what I wanted but will go back when the light is better. It rewally is a lovely place.
– inkedsandra
Nice shot; I love the colours in the brickwork
Thanks, the colours are amazing when you look closely.
– inkedsandra
Thanks
– inkedsandra
nice capture Sandra.x
Thank you Catherine x
– inkedsandra
You are welcome Sandra, did you see the link to your page on mine ?
no not yet, i’m a bit behind with comments! Will have a look now. xx
– inkedsandra
Good strong diagonals in your composition Sandra. We had a lovely day yesterday, but rain again today !
Thanks, not just us then!! We’ve had 2 nice days and now back to rain!
– inkedsandra
Thanks
– inkedsandra
great shot
Thanks Sylvia
– inkedsandra
Nice shot!!
Thanks
– inkedsandra
Sandra, this is beautiful work. I’m thinking that the old stone wall may be older than the arches. The colours & tones are wonderful. I enjoyed reading the history too …. always so interesting to read about lovely Lancs.! We’re having a bit of a heat wave here in BC. Just heard on our news there are over 300 forest fires burning. Ugh!
I think you might be right bout the wall. It was lovely yesterday but we are back to rain again today. Hope the fires don’e affect you. xx
– inkedsandra