Avon Viaduct

Miller built the viaduct for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. Work took place from 1839 to 1841. It remains in use, carrying the Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line. There is another Avon Viaduct located 4 mi south-west of Linlithgow; this Category B listed structure was built for the Monkland Railways and is now disused. To distinguish it from the older viaduct it is usually referred to by the alternative name of Westfield Viaduct.

The Avon Viaduct consists of 20 segmental arches, each with a span of 50 ft, along with three smaller, round-headed, approach arches on eastern side, all in dressed cream sandstone. It crosses the River Avon (Falkirk) and a minor road (the B825) It reaches a height of 70 ft above the river and is 442 yd long. It has prominent impost bands, resembling cornices, from which the arches spring, string courses above the arch crowns, and terminates in a low brick parapet. The engineer, John Miller, built many of his viaducts with hollow spandrels which later required reinforcement. On the Avon Viaduct, the reinforcement was done with radial bracing made from former rails. In the 1960s, the…