Leicestershire's John O' Gaunt Viaduct

This wonderful 1879 viaduct once carried the Great Northern and London & North Western railways across the Leicestershire countryside. It closed to traffic in 1965. Now we’ve lost the West End’s Bowstring Bridge this viaduct has to be Leicestershire’s most significant artefact of the county’s now dismantled railway infrastructure. 

14 arches span the brook below, red bricks decaying faster than blue giving the structure a mottled texture from close up and, for me, making it almost bucolic from afar. As with many bridges in Leicestershire this one spans a border, representing an invisible moment of transition between the Harborough District to the south and the Melton District to the north. 

I also visited another Woodland Trust site, Lord Morton's Wood near Tilton on the Hill a few miles to the south of this viaduct. See extra photos. Interesting that the two venues solicited such different responses; the viaduct a periperhal transition, while the wood almost the centre of town being located immediately next to one of Leicestershire's key FM transmitters. 

Looking on the map after tonights little outing, theres still so much more to explore....