Giltbrook Viaduct was a railway viaduct

Viaduct

A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...

 built in the Erewash Valley

Erewash Valley

The Erewash Valley is the valley of the River Erewash on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire as far as the River Trent. It runs along the boundary of the southern end of the Derbyshire hills and the more rolling Nottinghamshire country...

 between Awsworth

Awsworth

Awsworth is a village and civil parish in the Broxtowe district of Nottinghamshire, England. It had a population of 2,266 in 2001. The village is near the edge of the Greater Nottingham area, between Kimberley and Ilkeston, Derbyshire....

 and Giltbrook

Giltbrook

Giltbrook is a village situated approximately 10 kilometres West-northwest of Nottingham and within close reach of junction 26 of the M1 motorway. It is part of Greasley ward, which had a population of 6,076 in 2001....

 in Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

. It was demolished in 1973 to make way for the A610

A610 road

The A610 is an A-road in England, which runs from Nottingham to Ambergate, where it joins the A6.-Route:The road starts in Nottingham at a roundabout which Maid Marian Way and Upper Parliament Street spur from. From here road ascends, passing Nottingham Cathedral. The A610 becomes Alfreton Road as...

 bypass.

Origins

The viaduct was built between May 1873 and November 1875 and forms part of the Great Northern Railway Derbyshire Extension which was built in part to exploit the coalfields in Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

 and Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

. The contract was given by the Great Northern Railway

Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)

The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....

 (GNR) to Joseph Firbank with the line laid out by, and the viaduct designed by Richard Johnson (Chief Civil Engineer of the GNR); Samuel Abbott was the resident engineer.
At Awsworth Junction the railway branched, one line passed over the Bennerley Viaduct

Bennerley Viaduct

Bennerley Viaduct is a disused railway viaduct spanning the Erewash Valley between Awsworth in Nottinghamshire and Ilkeston in Derbyshire.- Origins :...

, the other turned North towards Pinxton

Pinxton

Pinxton is a village on the eastern boundary of Derbyshire in the Bolsover district, England.In Anglo-Saxon times it was a small agricultural community, thought to have been recorded in the Domesday Book as "Esnotrewic." It is also thought that it was known as "Snodeswic," given by Wulfric Spott to...

 crossing the Giltbrook Viaduct (or Kimberley Viaduct but known locally as Forty Bridges). This viaduct was built of red bricks used to create 43 arched spans with a total length of 1716 feet (523 m) and a height of 60 feet (18.3 m). The viaduct was S-shaped and built in four sections. The first section consisted of a single 27 feet (8.2 m) long skew span arch

Skew arch

A skew arch is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its plan view being a parallelogram, rather than the rectangle that is the plan view of...

 crossing Awsworth Lane followed by 13 arches each spanning 30 feet (9.1 m). The second section consisted of one 27 feet (8.2 m) skew span arch over the Midland Railway

Midland Railway

The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....

's Bulwell to Bennerley branch line followed by 15 arches each spanning 30 feet (9.1 m). The third section started with a 27 feet (8.2 m) long skew span arch, skewed in the opposite direction, crossing the Midland Railway's line to Digby Colliery which was immediately to the East of the viaduct followed by 3 arched spans of 30 feet (9.1 m). The fourth section started with a 45 feet (13.7 m) long segmental arch which crossed the Greasley

Greasley

Greasley is a parish north west of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. Although it is thought there was once a village called Greasley, there is no settlement of that name today. The built up areas in the parish are Giltbrook, Moorgreen , Newthorpe, Watnall and parts of Eastwood, Kimberley and...

 arm of the Nottingham Canal

Nottingham Canal

The Nottingham Canal was a long canal between Langley Mill in Derbyshire and Nottingham, England. It opened in 1796, and most of it was closed in 1937. The southern section is now part of the River Trent Navigation, and the northern section is a nature reserve.-Origins:The idea for the canal first...

 followed by 8 arched spans 30 feet (9.1 m) long. Each section was separated stop piers. To the South West of the viaduct next to the Nottingham Canal arm was a Nottingham Gas Light and Coke Company chemical works of which Thomas Hawksley

Thomas Hawksley

Thomas Hawksley was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with water and gas engineering projects.The son of John Hawksley and Mary Whittle, and born in Arnold, near Nottingham on , Hawksley was largely self-taught from the age of 15 onwards, having at that point...

 was once the managing engineer.

Great Midlands Raid

Houses were built into arches 8 and 23 counting from the Awsworth end. These dwellings were used as makeshift air raid shelters by school children from Awsworth during a First World war

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 German Zeppelin

Zeppelin

A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...

 Airship

Airship

An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

bombing raid which dropped bombs at Bennerley Junction. This bombing raid was part of what became known as the Great Midlands Raid.