The Beverley Farm Footpath Arch, St Stephen's, Kent

Description

CANTERBURY

856/0/10022 BEVERLEY MEADOW, BEACONSFIELD ROAD
01-SEP-10 The Beverley Farm footpath arch

II
Railway bridge. Constructed by 1830 as part of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway. George Stephenson was the major engineer from 1826 with Joseph Locke and John Dixon as assistants.

MATERIALS: Constructed of red brick, partly in stretcher bond and partly in header bond.

PLAN: Round-headed pedestrian arch set about 20 feet from the south eastern end of a section of earthen former railway embankment in St Stephen's Field.

DESCRIPTION: Only the top of the arch was visible at the time of survey (2010) because of later rubble back-filling. It comprises a round-headed pedestrian arch with voussoirs formed of three courses of handmade red bricks. The inside of the arch was visible across the entire width, constructed partly in stretcher bond and partly in header bond. The remainder of the arch is likely to survive underneath the back-filling, possibly with some brick buttresses shown in a 1953 photograph, but the original parapet above the arch has not survived. The brickwork of the north eastern side of the arch was in good condition but the south east side more decayed.

HISTORY
The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (or CWR and affectionately known as 'The Crab and Winkle Line') was a pioneering early railway. It represented an intermediate stage between early mining tramways or waggonways, and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, which was the prototypical modern main line railway. Proposals for the CWR were put forward by William James, and a Parliamentary Act authorising its construction was obtained in 1825. Construction had begun by 1826 under the direction of George Stephenson with Joseph Locke and John Dixon as assistants.

A Memorandum of an agreement entered into on the 10th day of December 1829 between George Baker of the parish of St Stephen's Kent, Esq. and the company of proprietors of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway agreed that on receiving £1400 George Baker should permit the Company to continue their railway through his land and premises with provisions for the stopping-up and diverting of certain footpaths. Although not specifically mentioned by name this would have included the Beverley Path Footpath arch. This area was originally part of the Beverley Dairy Farm and the footbridge was used by pedestrians and as a cattle crossing from the opening of the line in 1830.

The six mile long line was opened on 3 May 1830, linking Canterbury to a specially constructed harbour at Whitstable. The line was the country's first passenger and freight railway. It became especially popular in the summer months for seaside excursions to Whitstable's Tankerton beach, as noted in W J Cox's 'Guide to Whitstable and its surroundings' published in 1876. Trains were hauled along the length of the railway by a combination of horses, ropes operated by fixed engines, and a locomotive. There were originally two stationary steam engines to haul trains along the steeper gradients on the line and a third winding engine was installed in 1832 because the Invicta, the railway's one locomotive (now on display in Canterbury) proved incapable of hauling trains on the steeper gradients.

The line was taken over by the South Eastern Railway in 1844, the track was re-laid and the method of propulsion changed to locomotive propulsion throughout. Passenger traffic on the line ceased in 1931 and the line closed entirely in 1953. A photograph was taken of the Beverley Farm Footpath Arch by J W Sparrowe that same year. The footpath arch was still in use until about 1966 when it was back-filled with rubble.

SOURCES:
Unpublished transcribed summary of an agreement between The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway company and George Baker, dated 10 December 1829. Supplied by Marten Rogers, Parish Historian for Hackington, (St Stephen's area)
Scott-Morgan, J, Branches and Byways Kent, (2008) Oxford Publishing company.Reproduces a 1953 photograph of the Beverley Farm Footpath Arch, (labelled Hanover Arch)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The Beverley Farm Footpath arch, a railway pedestrian bridge, constructed by 1830 for the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historical interest: Although a round-headed brick railway bridge of modest architectural quality it has strong historical significance as a pre-1840 railway structure of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, which had George Stephenson as its major engineer;
* Intactness: although buried nearly to the top of the arch since the 1960s the arch survives substantially intact, possibly with original buttresses, although the parapet is missing;
* Railway Transport interest: it is now the only remaining substantially intact railway bridge of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, the only surviving substantially intact pre-1830 railway bridge in Kent and probably the south eastern counties. There are only a handful of pre-1830 railway bridges surviving nationally;
* Group Value: it is situated fairly near the Tyler Hill Tunnel (Grade II*), the only other substantially intact surviving building of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, and Canterbury West Railway Station (Grade II) of 1845 and it is set within an original railway embankment. The whole of the former Canterbury and Whitstable Railway line is a designated conservation area.

Reasons for Listing

Listable at Grade II

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The Beverley Farm Footpath Arch

A Grade II Listed Building in St Stephen's, Kent

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Reasons for Listing

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