Arnside Viaduct – Spectacular Engineering

The viaduct at Arnside is one of two great structures carrying the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway, the other being the Leven Viaduct.

The line officially opened to the public on 26 August 1857.

From that date, passenger trains ran from Ulverston over both viaducts to Carnforth, where the line met the Lancaster and Carlisle main line for onward travel to Lancaster.

Local Cartmel man, Albert Moorby, is firmly of the view that the first train from Ulverston to cross both viaducts, bound for Carnforth and Lancaster, ran on 11 August 1856.

It’s quite possible he’s recalling a trial run or a contractor’s train crossing the structures shortly before the line opened properly, an event that would certainly have caused great excitement across the surrounding countryside.

Building the railway was a major undertaking, with the viaducts carrying the line across the Leven and Kent estuaries.

To construct the Kent estuary Viaduct, the contractors, W. & J. Galloway of Manchester, developed a novel method of pile-driving into the sand using high-powered water jets.

Unfortunately, once the viaduct had been constructed, it barred access to Westmorland‘s only seaport, close to Milnthorpe.

The port itself was, at one time, busy exporting gunpowder and importing iron ore for the nearby furnace, but all this came to an end as the new viaduct prevented ships from navigating the river.

The port area was at Sandside, roughly a mile from Milnthorpe.

At the time, Sandside had its own customs officer who saw that taxes were paid on any imported goods.

Today, the only evidence of the port is a little piece of wharf now used as a car park.

Consequently, the land around the former Kingfisher restaurant up to the old Ship Inn would likely have been used by the port’s merchants.