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Ok, so I'm a civil engineer and i'm interested in engineering structure, be it dams/bridges/buildings, apart from the major ones, what interesting landmarks are there?
I have often been very impressed by various features found along the canal network for e.g the Anderton Lift on the Trent & Mersey Canal is a very impressive sight...
Fabulously vague!
Here's a few for me which may or may not be obvious.
Millenium dome
London eye
gherkin
gchq building
st pauls cathedral
that barge lift in Scotland
Newcastle to Gateshead footbridge
internationally - millau bridge, taipei 101, all of Dubai!
The large elusive ivory tower some live in.
Standedge tunnels,
the woodhead tunnels,
St Pancaras station,
Stwlan dam in north wales,
the dams of wales,
Brunel's atmospheric engine tower at Starcross
Welsh gold mines at Dolgellau
the Bude canal
I ride over & under this on the North edge of Dartmoor regularly - its right by the main A30 yet most people have never heard of it.
http://www.meldonviaduct.co.uk/
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Inverkip Power Station
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catesby viadict:
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and catesby tunnel:
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The railway viaduct in Stockport that the M60 passes under:
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_raj/2238336811/ ]Mersey viaduct[/url]
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Brunel's bridge at Saltash
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causey_Arch ]The Causey Arch[/url]
Maybe not a marvel, but
[url= http://www.basingstoke.me.uk/lglutyens.html ]Lutyen's building in Basingstoke[/url]
For a start...
Not so much a landmark as it's inside a hill, but Cruachan Power Station is a feat of engineering.
The Falkirk Wheel is pretty outrageous.
Was just going to say the Falkirk Wheel, amazing to watch.
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The Harecastle Tunnel,great bit of problem solving by James Brindley.
something Pssst-koff... going on at Crofton Beam Engine I think...
The Williamson tunnels under most of Edgehill (which is also the oldest operational railway station in the world ) and liverpool city centre, not particularly interesting technically, but interesting none the less for sheer bloody quirkiness.
Courtyard of the British Museum.
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How have i never heard of the Falkirk Wheel?, i've just watched it on You Tube 😛
Amazing.
Various Brunel structures between London and Bristol, there's a stunning railway bridge over the Thames up near Reading, Box Tunnel, and Clifton Suspension Bridge. There's a canal tunnel up near Cirencester, on the Thames and Severn canal at Sapperton, which is two miles long. It's not fully navigable at the moment, due to a collapse in the middle, but when it was in use boats were walked through by men who'd lie on a plank and walk along the tunnel wall propelling the narrow boat. Each journey took eight hours in the dark, and the men would overnight at a pub at either end, The Tunnel House Inn at Tarlton, and The Daneway at Sapperton. Both pubs are still there, and the canal and tunnel are undergoing restoration. An amazing feat of civil engineering, it was, I believe, the longest tunnel in the country at the time.
Caen Hill locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal near Devizes.
Built by a Scotsman naturally
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the transporter bridge in Boro, still confuses me to this day
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A brilliant site
Hasn't had any real updates in years though there are some amazing threads on the forum i.e.
http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=135&start=0
The rocket test site on the isle of white.
The Colsham bunker complex.
Ooooh and don't forget the pagodas at Orford Ness, they are very dramatic if you can book and get near enough
[url= http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-orfordness-history-awre.htm ]clicky[/url]
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct near Llangollen - a great use of cast iron sections to hold the canal.
Runcorn Widnes Bridge - I go over this every day and it still fascinates me....
Should have thought of Caen Hill Locks. Not far from me, fantastic sight, I always enjoy going there. Another I've just thought of; the Thames Barrage.
I never knew about these until the commencement of work ceremony [url= http://www.twotunnels.org.uk/ ]Linky[/url]. Probably a good, I'd have got bored and forgotten about it waiting for planning, funding, etc to be sorted!
Post office tower, london and Birmingham.
Winter hill tv transmitter,
Highgate cemetry,london,
Mersey railway tunnel,
Severn tunnel,
manchester ship canal,
M60 motorway,around manchester,
Another one for Middlesbrough, required by the same rules requiring the river to be navigable to large traffic as far as Stockton that brought the Transporter Bridge. This one's the Newport Bridge and I used to watch it going up and down from my classroom window at school.
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The water pumping substation in Conyers Road, Streatham, a masterpiece!
this aqueduct near Bristol. Spotted while on a cx ride but it's fairly well hidden unless you're close.
[url] http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=34032 [/url]
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The A66 Keswick by-pass over the Greta gorge is an unusual winner of engineering awards:
In 1977 the bridge was awarded a Highly Commendation by the Concrete Society.
Readers of Concrete magazine however voted it Best Civil Engineering Structure of the Century in 1999.[b]
Beverley Hughes MP, Minister for the Environment, unveiled a plaque, which is positioned beneath the bridge.
The Plaque reads:- ‘GRETA BRIDGE Voted Best Concrete Engineering Structure Of The Century September 1999 / Consulting Engineer : Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners / Contractor : Tarmac Construction / Maintained by The Highways Agency.
http://www.heritageandhistory.com/contents1a/2009/09/greta-bridge-keswick/
Skolt - you just beat me to it! Was going to mention the very same bridge. You would never know from driving across the top on the A66, but from below its a remarkably graceful stucture for a concrete bridge!
Cheers guys, planning a little trip, the brit museum courtyard is good, but my maths lecturer designed the roof, so I've heard of that one, some nice unknown bits there, the bridge on dartmoor, i lived near there and have never seen it. Would be interested in those tunnels in bath, thats where i went to uni.
keep them coming the more wierd and wonderfull the better.
The mersey tunnels are quite impressive. I like the way the vent towers, especially the queensway tunnel, are disguised as architecture.
This is the kingsway vents
[url= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2357/2174595557_d02bafcf85.jp g" target="_blank">
And yes, stockport viaduct is seriously impressive.
I think some of the london underground is quite impresive. But then there are parts that are gash.
http://www.nlb.org.uk/ourlights/history/bellrock.htm
Possibly not unknown, but dad was a lightkeeper
If you're looking for less well known landmarks, there's two only a short walk from my house.
Victoria Bridge on the Severn Valley Railway.
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Probably one of the most photographed bridges in the country, but only accessible by footpath, so there's not that many people have seen it for real from that angle..
A couple of miles further down stream, and far less well known, is the pipeline bridge carrying water from the Elan Valley to Birmingham.
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The water falls by gravity, there are no pumps, so, as this is the lowest point, it is also the point of highest pressure.
Again, it's only accessible by footpath or a tiny dead end lane.
Kylesku Bridge, Sutherland.
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In amongst the stunning West Coast scenery, this modern structure should look completely incongruous, but somehow it just [i]works.[/i]
Kylesku Bridge, Sutherland.
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In amongst the stunning West Coast scenery, this modern structure should look completely incongruous, but somehow it just [i]works.[/i]
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The sound mirrors have always impressed me. They pre-date radar and were desgined to litsen out for enemy aircraft and were built in 1928-30 see [url= http://www.greatstone.net/history/sound_mirrors.htm ]here[/url] for more details.
* added post to remove the STW invisibility filter *
Edit: ach - never mind
Thirlmere Aquaduct. Amazing bit of Victorian Engineering. Water is never pumped. Gravity all the way from Thirlmere to Lostock. Takes 4 days.
Dinowyg power station near Llanberis.
gusamc - Member
> http://www.nlb.org.uk/ourlights/history/bellrock.htmPossibly not unknown, but dad was a lightkeeper
I was on it on the last day it was manned. Pretty impressive considering it's 200 years old
The elan valley dams.
This is a shot of Craig Goch dam I took.
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Local to me (and not that well known) is the Millenium Walkway in New Mills, Derbyshire. The town sits on top of a deep gorge where 2 rivers join and there have been mills down there for years (derelict now) along with all the accompanying weirs and dams and 2 huge viaducts over the gorge.
In 2000 a bridge was finally built to connect the two ends of the footpath (previously walkers had had to go up into the town and round to the other side to continue their walk).
The bridge won a design award but the architect was killed in the London bombings of 7/7, there's a plaque on the bridge in his memory.
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KT1973 - nice one - keeper, engineer, helicopter ??? what were you doing
The dam at the end of Glen Lyon. Built in the 50's pretty much by hand. It's almost 20 miles up what is now a single track road, but then probably just a track, and then you are still 40 miles from the nearest big town. In those days, a lorry would be pushed to to the round trip in a day
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Southgate tube station?
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not really unknown, just unnoticed.
Or Glenfinnan Viaduct, a la Harry Potter
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Iron bridge, telford
Great thread, hard to add to.
As well as the London Underground and subterranean mainline services, London is home to another set of train tunnels which run 70 feet under the streets of central London between Whitechapel and Paddington. The entire tunnel network is 23 miles long1, was used up until May 2003, and was built for one purpose: to deliver the post.
And not many people know that! But you casn't see them so far as I know and I can't find any pics.
Well reminded hh45. Here's a pic of Westminster tube station (nothing's too good for those MPs) which is amazing.
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I expect all these pics are on the web just to save terrorists the trouble. Ironic that the police now seem to treat many photographers taking pics of this sort of stuff as terrorists - [url= http://photographernotaterrorist.org/ ]I'm a photographer not a terrorist.[/url]
M62 across the Lancashire/Yorkshire border.
http://www.motorwayarchive.ihtservices.co.uk/m62bounpole.htm
Some local to me here in the East Midlands
Bennerley Viaduct - I just like the look of it, no idea of it's technical merits...[url] 
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The Derwent Valley World Heritage Site - runs from Derby to Matlock and takes in a several mills, especially Arkwrights Mill at Cromford - also the old 3 storey houses he built there for his workers (North Street being the best preserved)
The fountains and cascades at Chatsworth - find it hard to believe it is all done without any pumps.
And I'm definitely stopping in New Mills to look at the Millenium Walkway next time I'm working up there!
High Peak Junction and it's pump house, also Middleton Top on the High Peak Trail - make a nice little bike ride between the two.
I think already mentioned, but Box Hill Tunnel is pretty groovy. Nearly 3km long and the sun shines all the way down it on the morning of Brunel's birthday every year.
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Great thread, love the Millenium Walkway, that's terrific.
Crazy-legs - I love the whole area of 'The Torrs' that the Millenium walkway bridge is built in.
It's a great place for children to explore.
Edit: forgot to mention the Archimede's screw at the end of the walk, very interesting stuff.
The Tom Pudding lift in Goole, my home town:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Pudding
Not unknown, unless you don't know of it, but Iron Bridge is always worth a look.
I'm not sure how anything Brunel built qualifies as 'unknown'. But any opportunity to praise him should be taken. I've always thought the bridge at Saltash was fantastic. And I love this fact:
Box Hill Tunnel is pretty groovy. Nearly 3km long and the sun shines all the way down it on the morning of Brunel's birthday every year.
Somehow you can't imagine that particular design feature getting past a planning committee nowadays. A brilliant combination of genius and egomaniac.
Cragside House in Northumberland is worth a visit from an engineering point of view. It was the first house to have electric lighting and was powered from its own hydro electric scheme.
It also has a hydraulic lift and the greenhouse has automated turntables for individual plant pots to track the sun.
gusamc - Member
KT1973 - nice one - keeper, engineer, helicopter ??? what were you doingPosted 10 hours ago # Report-Post
My Grandfather had a boat and we took the local MP and photographers etc out there. I was still at school and I remember that it was a beautiful day - the sea was like glass and the MP was puking non stop.
It was low tide so we were able to go onto the rock and have a tour of the lighthouse. A cracking day I'll always remember.
brunels 3 bridges
quite frankly its ugly and dilapidated but its cool to see
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High Peak Junction and it's pump house, also Middleton Top on the High Peak Trail - make a nice little bike ride between the two.
And a pair of aqueducts over both a river and a railway, which is somehow rather satisfying. Oh and a nice enough tunnel too.
Joe
This dam in mid wales looked like it would be fun on a lilo. Lots on 'no canoes' signs on it.
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not so unknown but overlooked... The Big One !
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nickjb - Member
This dam in mid wales looked like it would be fun on a lilo. Lots on 'no canoes' signs on it.
[url=
good on a canoe too[/url]
not unknown, but i like:
1. loch katrine system of dams and aqueducts - built to supply glasgow with water - http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9427&start=0
2. cruachan power station - the scale of the main cavern is really impressive
3. the large scale hydro-electric dams built in scotland from 1930s onward. really should get round to buying one of the books written about the boom times post wwii.
There's lots of tunnels under London including the new Thames sewage tunnel which is in the process of being constructed, Crossrail is in the latest stages of design with some work begun - the central London stations are going to awesome. The deep level shelters built under several nortern line station are quite strange - I've been in the one under Clapham South station (for electrical geeks there's a fantastic mercury arc rectifier which is very strange - but not something to look at for too long).
Some tube stations have got some very interesting disused shafts and tunnels, standind on a very small wobbly bridge over a 30m shaft hearing the trains go past and just seeing daylight 10m above your head is very disturbing.
Of course there's also thos tunnels (touches side of nose) under Green Park, allegedly.....
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Tunnel_fire ]Summit Tunnel [/url] - built by George Stephenson.
Runs between Littleborough and Todmorden - once the longest railway tunnel in the world and home to one of the biggest underground fires ever recorded.
Cardington Airship hangers:
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Built to house the R100 and R101 - now mahooosive film sets, I believe.
of all the gumph on STW that entertains me in many ways...this is the thread of the year (so far). As an ex civil/structural engineer I just love this stuff. well player peeps.
No single one is a landmark as such, but the thousand or so bridges that Telford built in the highlands completely transformed the region.
The [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_Barriers ]Churchill Barriers[/url] built of sunken ships in Orkney are pretty cool
again not a landmark, but above the Cromarty Firth one of the mountains was hollowed out to store oil for the fleet during the first world war, there are six huge tanks in there, each the size and shape of a cathedral
Ribblehead Viaduct, pretty well known, but awesome.
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Never seen that aqueduct at Winsford, which is very odd, I spent 3 years riding all round there, must've been past it!
That Millenium walkway is cool.
There's one near me which is interesting rather than impressive or anything else, dates from the early 20th century, when the station at Rudgwick was built the gradient was too steep, so they built a bridge on top of an existing bridge to reduce the gradient out of the station. Now part of the Downs Link path.
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The first passenger railway terminus in the world
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really like this thread
Bewdley flood defences.
Not on the same scale as some of the other examples, but an impressive engineering solution to a local problem.
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The black railings poking out of the water mark the edge of the quayside.
The aluminium barrier mounts in holes in the ground and is only erected when floods are likely.
It's a strange feeling standing behind the barrier looking over the top at all that fast flowing water level with your waste.
Worth a look if your in the Wyre Forest during a flood.
Someone please stick a pic of the wooden structure on the tyne. Near blaydon? Its pretty impressive...............
wow. Isnt bewdley the posh one! 😉
In upton we only get "temporary" flood barriers 🙁
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