Parkhead Viaduct

Parkhead Viaduct is a railway viaduct located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. The original viaduct was a wooden structure erected in 1850 to carry the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway over Parkhead Locks on the Dudley Canal, near to the southern mouth of the Dudley Tunnel. The current brick viaduct was built in 1880 and it is believed that the original wooden structure is still encased within its successor.

Closure

Use of the viaduct had fallen by the mid 1960s due to the closure of passenger stations on the route, but the line remained open until 19 March 1993, when the section of the railway between Walsall and Brierley Hill was closed. The most recent train believed to have crossed the viaduct is believed to be a cable laying train on 1 July 1993, nearly four months after the line's closure.

The section of track over Parkhead Viaduct was removed in about 1995, with the most of the track between Highgate Road and Blowers Green Road following in 1998 due to the construction of a new road bridge over the line nearby. The structure of the viaduct is still intact, but has fallen into disrepair and would require extensive work for trains to use it again.

Parkhead

Coordinates: 55°50′55″N 4°11′52″W / 55.8486°N 4.1978°W / 55.8486; -4.1978

Parkhead (Scots: Pairkheid) is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Duke Street and Springfield Road also meet there, to form a turreted Edwardian five-way junction at Parkhead Cross. Glasgow's Eastern Necropolis was laid out in 1847 beside the Gallowgate.

History

The area flourished with the discovery of coal in 1837 and grew into an industrial centre. In 1897 William Beardmore and Company became famous with the production of high grade steel and castings at the local Parkhead Forge, founded about 1837 and extended between 1884 and 1914. After years of decline, the massive plant was closed in 1976, and in 1986 the construction of the first phase of The Forge Shopping Centre began on the site. The shopping centre opened in the autumn of 1988, and in 1994 an indoor market was added adjacent to it. The final element, a retail park, was completed in three stages between 1996 and 2002.

Parkhead (disambiguation)

Parkhead is a suburb of the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom places named Park Head or Parkhead are:

See also