Dene Beck Culvert, Coatham Mundeville, Darlington

Summary

Stream culvert through the railway embankment engineered by George Stephenson for the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825.

Description

Culvert beneath a railway embankment, by George Stephenson for the Stockton & Darlington Railway, 1825.

MATERIALS: coursed and ashlar sandstone.

DESCRIPTION: the portal to the culvert on the western side of the embankment is detailed in a similar way to that of an accommodation bridge in miniature. The arch is semi-circular, around 2m high, constructed with ashlar voussoirs; the spandrels and flanking terminal piers being of coursed dressed stone. Above, there is a horizontal ashlar stringcourse marking the base of the parapet, which is also of finely dressed ashlar stonework. One of the square terminal piers retains a moulded cap. Extending from the piers flanking the arch are short wing walls built of coursed stone with ashlar coping.

The eastern portal is more plainly treated, lacking a parapet. The culvert tunnel is not straight, but bends slightly southwards at its eastern end.

History

The Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) was engineered by George Stephenson (1781-1848), its initial construction being authorised by Acts of Parliament passed in 1821 and 1823, the main line opening to traffic in 1825. Dene Beck Culvert is considered to be one of the original structures of the line, built before September 1825 to allow the Dene Beck to flow through the embankment for the railway. The portals to the culvert are of smoothly dressed ashlar stonework and are similar in design to the slightly more elaborate accommodation bridge about 60m to the south and the larger bridge over the Hummer Beck south of West Auckland, both of which are also thought to be original structures of 1825 line. The projecting wing walls revetting the embankment are built in slightly different stonework and may be the result of later repair work, but still likely to be early C19.

Through its willingness to share information with visiting engineers and railway promoters, the S&DR was highly influential in the establishment of other early railways both in England and abroad. A significant part of this influence was via Stephenson who also established the world’s first locomotive works with his son Robert (1803-1859), supported financially by Edward Pease of the S&DR. Stephenson also went on to engineer the Liverpool & Manchester Railway (opened 1830), being popularly regarded as ‘the Father of the Railways’. One of the approaches that Stephenson took to engineering rail routes was to make them as straight and level as possible, despite the added expense of having to construct cuttings and embankments with their attendant bridges and culverts. This resulted in Stephenson realigning the original, rather circuitous route that had been planned by George Overton (1774-1827) which had been authorised by the 1821 Act of Parliament. Stephenson’s straighter route, including the crossing of Dene Beck and Myers Flat, necessitated a second Act of Parliament, this being passed in 1823.

Reasons for Listing

Dene Beck Culvert is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a rare surviving and little altered structure built for the 1825 opening of the pioneering and internationally influential Stockton & Darlington Railway;

* for the well-considered design of the portals, being good examples of Georgian masonry construction characteristic of the early railway.

Historic interest:
* as a clear example of George Stephenson’s influential approach to railways, employing extensive engineering to build routes that were as straight and level as possible.

Group value:
* with the contemporary accommodation bridge 60m to the south.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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