River Cart Aqueduct

River Cart Aqueduct
Coordinates 55°50′24″N 4°24′23″W / 55.839986°N 4.406396°W / 55.839986; -4.406396Coordinates: 55°50′24″N 4°24′23″W / 55.839986°N 4.406396°W / 55.839986; -4.406396
Carries Paisley Canal Line
Crosses River Cart
Characteristics
Material Stone
Height 30 feet (9.1 m)
Number of spans 1
History
Engineering design by John Rennie and Thomas Telford
Opened 1811 (opened in 1885 as railway bridge)

The River Cart Aqueduct, sometimes known as the Blackhall Bridge, carries the Paisley Canal Line across the River Cart.

History

The aqueduct was built between 1808 and 1810, and opened in 1811 to carry the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal.[1] John Rennie and Thomas Telford were involved in the engineering process.[2][3] The contractor was John Simpson and the cost of construction was £5,440.

The canal was closed in 1881, and converted to run the Paisley Canal Line, which opened in 1885.[1]

Design

It is a freestone masonry segmental arch of 88 feet 6 inches (27 m) span and a height over the water of about 30 feet (9 m). The bridge is probably the longest span masonry aqueduct of the canal age on a British canal, and one of the world's earliest bridges carrying a public railway. It was widened to carry the double track railway, and the line crosses the bridge at a slight skew because of the easing of the sharp canal curvature.[3][4][5]

When the aqueduct carried the canal, it was only the width of a single boat, making it necessary to wait for another boat to pass at times.[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to River Cart Aqueduct.
  1. 1 2 Holland, Julian (2013). Dr Beeching's Axe 50 Years On: Memories of Britain's Lost Railways. David & Charles. p. 187. ISBN 1-4463-0267-9.
  2. RCAHMS. "Paisley, Blackhall Aqueduct (43178)". Canmore. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  3. 1 2 Roland Paxton and Jim Shipway, Civil; Engineering Heritage: Scotland, Lowlands and Borders, Thomas Telford Limited, London, 2007, ISBN 978 0 7277 3487 7
  4. Jean Lindsay, The Canals of Scotland, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1968, ISBN 0 7153 4240 1
  5. Google (2 January 2014). "River Cart Aqueduct" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  6. United States Congress (1832). House Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Executive Documents: 13th Congress, 2d Session-49th Congress, 1st Session. p. 103.
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