82092

 

II  

Designated  

26/11/2003  

26/11/2003  

Neath Abbey Railway Viaduct (partly in Dyffryn Clydach community)  

 

Neath Port Talbot  

Blaenhonddan  

Neath  

Neath Abbey  

273850  

197838  

 

Crossing the River Clydach and Taillwynd Road some 120m N of Neath Abbey Road.  

Transport  

 

Railway viaduct built for the South Wales Railway c1850, probably to designs of I.K. Brunel. There is a single arch over the road way, a second similar arch adjoining and then three very tall arches across the river gorge.  

Railway viaduct over road and river valley. Squared coursed rubble stone with cut sandstone dressings. First arch over the road has cut stone voussoirs to an elliptical arch with broad stone piers each side and two-step cut-stone cornice broken forward around the piers under a high parapet with raised plinth and cut stone coping. Stonework under arch is skewed. Second arch is broader and shallower and there are no further raised piers. The piers between the subsequent arches are divided axially by a narrow arch, the second pier still on the high level has only an arch head visible from under the second arch but the three much taller arches of the gorge have the piers dramatically split as seen axially with tooled cut stone voussoirs and tooled stone to the piers of much finer quality than in the two end arches.  

 

Included as a particularly fine railway viaduct associated with I.K. Brunel, the renowned engineer.