Medieval castle and 1909 brick and iron viaduct - conisbrough

The magnificent keep at Conisbrough Castle is one of South Yorkshire’s most striking landmarks. The castle was the centre of a great Norman lordship, given by William the Conqueror to William de Warenne. The keep was probably built in the 1170s or 1180s. Escaping damage in the Civil War, it became a picturesque ruin in the 18th and 19th centuries, and inspired Sir Walter Scott's most famous novel, Ivanhoe, published in 1819.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/conisbrough-castle/history/

The magnificent Conisbrough viaduct is impossible to overlook with its 21 arches, 150 foot lattice iron girder span over the river, and 1,527 feet in length. Opened in 1909, it was part of a connection between the Hull & Barnsley Railway and those of the Great Northern and Great Eastern. It consists of more than 15 million bricks, and features some beautiful decorative brickwork. It is so vast that an aerial ropeway was built to carry men and materials across the valley during its construction (see picture on the right).

The railway closed in 1965, and the viaduct was transferred to Railway Paths in 2001. Sustrans and Railway Paths converted the unofficial path over the viaduct into a cycleway in 2010, after adding panels to the viaduct’s parapets in 2008. These works were funded by the Railway Heritage Trust and Doncaster Council.

For a detailed description of the works, please visit Forgotten Relics.

The viaduct is now on NCN route 62, and part of the Trans Pennine Trail – a multi-user route across the North of England from Southport to Hornsea. You can catch a glimpse of this viaduct from the train when travelling between Doncaster and Rotherham.