The history
Another relic of the East Cleveland love affair with ironstone, Kilton Culvert only came into being due to an engineering error and a fairly radical solution to said error in 1911.
Kilton Beck flows through the bottom of a steep-sided valley from the higher moors south of Skinningrove and, when the ironstone boom was at its peak, was spanned by a long, curved viaduct comprising eleven stone piers, thirteen iron spans and two buttresses at either end.
This archive shot is looking south (the old spoil heaps of Liverton Mines are in the left background). This area was riddled with ironstone mines (some based on drifts, some on deep shafts) and as a result of some shallow mining in the vicinity of the viaduct, the viaduct began to suffer from subsidence in the first decade of the twentieth century. In 1911, a two-year project was begun to infill the viaduct with (allegedly) 720,000 tonnes of mining spoil from the surrounding mines and essentially bury the entire structure in shale and rock.
Thus began the burial. This didn't go well and uneven tipping caused further stress to the stone piers supporting the track - this caused further delays and the trackbed was eventually shifted from its original course once the infilling had been completed in 1913.
Having lived in this area since I was a kid, I knew of Kilton Viaduct but anyone passing who saw the huge embankment that now curves across the valley would be none the wiser.
Before the tipping could begin however, a culvert to contain Kilton Beck had to be constructed in the valley bottom:
The explore
There's not a huge amount to the culvert really - it's about the same length as Ravenscar Tunnel, reinforced concrete for the base of the southern half, bedrock for the base of the northern section and has a very slight dogleg between its two portals.
As you make your way down to the northern portal, you can see the iron-stained water leaching from the old mine workings:
There is also some fairly recent flood barrier work downstream to protect the fragile bridges in Skinningrove:
Northern portal:
Inside towards the dogleg:
The culvert is, for the most part, in damn good nick considering it's over a hundred years old, although there are sections where the rebar is coming through the concrete and another where water is pissing in through a fairly severe crack in the wall:
Looking back towards the northern portal:
Another internal shot:
Looking back at the south portal from Kilton Beck:
Climbing back up the steep (steep!) spoil bank to the railway line, you can see the course of the old curved viaduct in the modern freight line:
Nice quick hour's explore, five minutes from home! Thanks for reading.
Another relic of the East Cleveland love affair with ironstone, Kilton Culvert only came into being due to an engineering error and a fairly radical solution to said error in 1911.
Kilton Beck flows through the bottom of a steep-sided valley from the higher moors south of Skinningrove and, when the ironstone boom was at its peak, was spanned by a long, curved viaduct comprising eleven stone piers, thirteen iron spans and two buttresses at either end.
This archive shot is looking south (the old spoil heaps of Liverton Mines are in the left background). This area was riddled with ironstone mines (some based on drifts, some on deep shafts) and as a result of some shallow mining in the vicinity of the viaduct, the viaduct began to suffer from subsidence in the first decade of the twentieth century. In 1911, a two-year project was begun to infill the viaduct with (allegedly) 720,000 tonnes of mining spoil from the surrounding mines and essentially bury the entire structure in shale and rock.
Thus began the burial. This didn't go well and uneven tipping caused further stress to the stone piers supporting the track - this caused further delays and the trackbed was eventually shifted from its original course once the infilling had been completed in 1913.
Having lived in this area since I was a kid, I knew of Kilton Viaduct but anyone passing who saw the huge embankment that now curves across the valley would be none the wiser.
Before the tipping could begin however, a culvert to contain Kilton Beck had to be constructed in the valley bottom:
The explore
There's not a huge amount to the culvert really - it's about the same length as Ravenscar Tunnel, reinforced concrete for the base of the southern half, bedrock for the base of the northern section and has a very slight dogleg between its two portals.
As you make your way down to the northern portal, you can see the iron-stained water leaching from the old mine workings:
There is also some fairly recent flood barrier work downstream to protect the fragile bridges in Skinningrove:
Northern portal:
Inside towards the dogleg:
The culvert is, for the most part, in damn good nick considering it's over a hundred years old, although there are sections where the rebar is coming through the concrete and another where water is pissing in through a fairly severe crack in the wall:
Looking back towards the northern portal:
Another internal shot:
Looking back at the south portal from Kilton Beck:
Climbing back up the steep (steep!) spoil bank to the railway line, you can see the course of the old curved viaduct in the modern freight line:
Nice quick hour's explore, five minutes from home! Thanks for reading.
What no fear of Death by suffocation or rock falls put have you lost your nerve lol
