Proposed Congleton Viaduct Cheshire (works abandoned)
Work on this contract was halted when the company decided not to proceed with the line through Congleton and Stoke but rather connect to the Grand Junction Railway at Crewe, with only a branch line to Macclesfield. The line was eventually built as the North Staffordshire Railway, with a viaduct over the valley of the River Dane.
MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY – CONTRACT FOR WORKS – Notice is hereby given that the Directors of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company will meet at their offices, No 23 Bond Street, Manchester, on Wednesday 26 January 1839, at twelve o’clock at noon to receive tenders for Contract No 6 or Congleton Viaduct. To make and maintain the bridge or viaduct over the River Dane, …, The length of the viaduct will be about 3,078 feet, and its greatest height will be about 98 feet 6 inches from the river to the rails. Drafts of the contracts, with plans and specifications, will be ready for inspection on or after the 28 instant, at the offices of the Engineer in Chief, Store Street, Manchester. … Thomas Ashton, Chairman. [Manchester Guardian 29 December 1838 page 1]
The original contractor failed to enter into the necessary contract and bond. The contract was therefore re-advertised, with a new meeting of the directors convened for 14 February 1839, and contractors John and Samuel Blackley of Manchester, appointed February 1839.
The viaduct at Congleton over the River Dane, which is to be built for the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, will be 3,000 feet in length, and contain 24 arches of 80(sic) span. The height above the water will be 100 feet. This great work has been contracted for at £100,000. It will contain 630,000 feet of solid stonework, and 24,000,000 bricks- Sheffield Iris [The Times 12 February 1839 page 7]
CONTRACT NO 6 OR CONGLETON VIADUCT CONTRACT. This work has just been let, and is to be completed in two years and a half. It consists of 42 arches, each of 60 feet span. Preparations have been made by throwing up clay for making about 15,000,000 bricks during the present year. – George W Buck, 6 March 1839, Manchester. [Manchester Guardian 13 March 1839]
MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY - CONGLETON VIADUCT - A few days since Mr Buck the Head Engineer to the Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company was engaged for some time in superintending the progress of the works at Congleton and in directing the preparatory arrangement for the foundation of the piers of the great viaduct etc. From what passed at the meeting in Manchester last week it appears that the height of this glorious structure is to be reduced twenty feet which with the addition of thirteen feet to the viaduct at Stockport will so far alter the line as to effect a saving to the company of about £80,000 - Staffordshire Gazette
NO 6 OR CONGLETON VIADUCT CONTRACT - Eight millions of bricks have been made. This quantity will be sufficient to carry on the work until the return of the brick-making season. The contractor is erecting his machinery and the first stone is expected to be laid in or about a fortnight. [Engineers Report 7 September 1839]
MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY VIADUCT AT CONGLETON It is now arranged that the first stone of the great viaduct near this town is to be laid in a week or two with much pomp and ceremony A few years since we should perhaps have stated that the laying of the first stone of this undertaking would have been accompanied with the usual ceremonies but thanks to the unceremonious proceedings of most Railway Companies such phraseology has become almost obsolete Tunnels now-a-days are treated with no more respect than coal-pits, bridges are began with as little ceremony as barns and even the most stupendous viaducts are scarcely more cared for than the most ordinary verandahs. This off-hand mode of doing everything connected with great undertaking partakes too largely of the reckless “spirit of the age“ to be agreeable to us and we therefore are well disposed to honour the Manchester and Birmingham Company for having set the example of a return to the architectural courtesies of former days - Staffordshire Gazette.
MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY VIADUCT AT CONGLETON - It is now arranged that the first stone of the great viaduct near this town is to be laid in a week or two, with much pomp and ceremony. Staffordshire Gazette. [Manchester Guardian 25 September 1839 page 2]