Mid 19th century timber trestle railway viaduct, 'Wickham Bishops timber trestle railway viaduct', Witham to Maldon dismantled railway (EHER 8457)

Timber trestle railway viaduct on the Maldon, Witham and Braintree Railway opened in 1848 and closed in 1966. This crosses the the Blackwater River.

May 1973. Building recording. Recorded by NRIM. <1> <2> Site Management: Scheduled in 1984. (TL 82381193 - TL 82441167) Wickham Bishops Timber Trestle Railway Viaduct. Built for a single line track, each bay comprised of legs with cross struts in heavy timber. The sleepers are laid on timber rails. The railway lines have been taken up and the bridge is out of use. Very rare if not unique. <3> Scheduled listing. <4> 1993. Field survey. Former Witham - Maldon Branch timber railway viaduct. Of simple construction, with heavy square section timbers forming regularly spaced trestles, each with four vertical posts and diagonal bracing either side. Timber pads and horizontal beams to support track sleepers. <5> Map of viaduct in SMR. <6> October-November 1994. Building recording. Survey report. <7> Archaeological drawings. <8> Slides. <9> Contact sheet. <10> Drawing on .DXF files (for AutoCad). <11> 1996. Watching brief. A watching brief was maintained by the AAG during repair works to record features of interest. Particular attention was paid to the earth fast timber piles, 'baltic' timber marks and carpenters marks. No known pieces of wood were removed from the bridge that had 'baltic' timber carvings and only 1 piece of graffiti was observed on the railway sleepers, the word 'THE' (see photo <12>). It was assumed that the original sleepers had been replaced. Several 'baltic' timber marks were observed and photographically recorded on the main structure of the north bridge. Carpenters marks came in a variety of forms including Roman numerals and English letters. These were used to marry the timbers up and many have been re-covered. Surprisingly few carpenters marks were observed on the south bridge and no 'baltic' timber marks. The main feature was the way in which the wooden piles were driven into the ground. On the north span trestle one the spiked piles were driven through a below ground wooden sill beam, but in most instances they went directly into the ground with a wooden strengthening plank bolted on either side. Two different methods of construction could be seen onsouth span, the end of one pile was made into a spike and another having been spiked with iron strips. Both piles were driven over 2.5m below the surface. <12> <13> 2011. Field survey. SITE DESCRIPTION: Wooden trestle viaduct bridge [Bridge 868]. Wickham Mill bridge has the date 1739 inscribed on the western parapet. The northern (Mill Race) viaduct is 11 span, c.36m long. The track embankment is now interrupted by the insertion of a cottage, then the track crossed the River Brain meander 100m further S another wooden viaduct, 12 span, c.50m long [Bridge 867]. ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL: Good. SITE SIGNIFICANCE: Two of only three wooden viaducts in this Survey. CURRENT STATUS: Scheduled Monument. . RECOMMENDED ACTION: Maintain present status. GRADE: *** Two photos: Photo D48 from southeast, D49 from southwest. <14> Site Assessment: Now a rarity on British Rail, originally this type of costruction was very common. The only surviving example of six such viaducts which originally existed on this branch line. <5> April 2013. Field visit. See photo <15>. Aerial photograph <16>. Timber trestle railway viaduct, built in around 1847. <17>