Ledbury Railway Viaduct. This wonderful structure was built between 1854 and 1861 for the Worcester and Hereford Railway. The principle engineers were Thomas Brassey and Stephen Ballard. Five million bricks were used in the construction and these were fired on site in a dedicated brickworks, it is said that a lot of the bricks were made from the clay dug out of the foundations and it is possible that a lot were, but the height verses the foundation foot print, would suggest that a lot more material was required. There are 21 arches built to a slender form which gives the whole structure a very pleasing almost delicate look. There is some decoration built into the top of the arches which contrasts pleasantly alongside today’s utilitarian constructions.
A slight hitch occurred with the opening ceremony, where the right honourable lady who was to perform the task, was left on the station platform in Hereford. No doubt slightly red faced, the great and the good that were present, ordered the train reversed and the difficulty was overcome. Perhaps they had made too early a start on the Champaign.
I decided to follow the line from here to Ledbury Station, and because it still retains something of the feel of an old style branch line, I spent some time filming quite a bit of it. There is a tunnel to the east of the station but it is not the main Malvern Tunnel as that is a few miles further on.
Everything is fully accessible at the moment and if you find yourself looking for things to do in Ledbury, go and have a look.

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