[Closed] Interesting unknown engineering landmarks in the uk

At least a half of the Tube is above ground, some sections of tunnels on the Northern Line date back to the late 1890s - in the 20s they increased the tunnels whilst the trains still ran - right up until there was a collapse. Some of the original tunnel remains at Kennington. I've been in a room there with a small hatch on a wall which no one knew where it went to -opened it, looked out aaassrrggghhhh! Train!
Stockwell has the remnants of the inclined railway that led to a surface level depot where the trains were stabled - until you guessed it, there was runaway.

Just posted this on the Castles thread. But it's definitely an engineering landmark as well. Horse Sand Fort.

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_Sand_Fort ]It is 240 foot (73 m) across, built between 1865 and 1880, with two floors and a basement, armour plated all round.[/url]

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Not in the UK any more, but came from here, now languishing on the French coast, what's left of it:
The Mulberry Port - temporary quay for Operation Overlord. The scale of the engineering and deployment is unimaginable!

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http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/06/d-day-after/
What's left of it:
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ok i see your tunnels and i raise you with the totley tunnel. the longest non electrified tunnel in the uk.
it's unlikely anyone will have seen it but plenty will have travelled through it. it takes peeps from sheffield to the peaks and runs under blacka moor and totley moss. the strange turrets on top of the moors are to vent steam and smoke and probably some air pressure too.
i'll second tinsley viaduct too.
int our country great!

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Yep Inverkip looks great on the coast in that part of the world, shame it never really produced much power - bad luck opening an oil fired power station at the height of the oil crisis... anyway it is still be stripped for spares for other stations - did a transformer move assessment a few years ago

one from our french chums

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one from our french chums

yep Millau viaduct - awesome plus English architect

another view when completed

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Levant Mine, Cornwall

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Most of the workings are under the sea bed - and reputedly the miners would follow the lodes upwards until they could here the pebbles rolling around on the sea bed above their heads....!!

This might sound like an anachronistic fariy story - but the sea did breach into the Levant workings, through a known area of weakness that had been worked to close below the sea bed.

Amazingly the hole in the sea bed was located and sealed in the early 1960s, using a combination of divers, pioneering civil / mining engineering and big pumps!

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The work allowed Geevor mine to pump out and re-open Levant. I worked on the site in the early 90s when Geevor was closing - fascinating bit of history / engineering and not well known outside of mining engineering circles.

More info here...[url= http://www.tinmining.co.uk/breacha.htm ]Levant Breach[/url]

Sadly Levant is also known for one of Cornwall's worst mining disasters (and not due to the sea coming in!!). 31 men died when the man engine collapsed throwing the men down the shaft

yep Millau viaduct - awesome plus English architect

Grrrrr, that really annoys me! Bridges like the Millau are amazing from an engineering point of view, but because a famous bloke drew a curving line over a valley, everyone bangs on about the architect. I genuinely feel sorry for the unsung hero engineers on that project.

Staying with mining in west Cornwall -

Crowns Engine House, Botallack. Better known than Levant, but an impressive location.

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Grrrrr, that really annoys me! Bridges like the Millau are amazing from an engineering point of view, but because a famous bloke drew a curving line over a valley, everyone bangs on about the architect. I genuinely feel sorry for the unsung hero engineers on that project.

yep true, but the french seem to miss the point that the english were involve.. architects as you say seem to get the headlines.. but that as an architect ones told be is because architecture is an art, whereas engineering is a science..

either way still an amazing bridge.

quite like the old london hydraulic accumulator sets up after findingout about them... savoy hotel lift powered from an accumalutor miles away for example thay also had a water powered vaccum cleaner system until 1937..

Millau is amazing, I managed last year to go through the access way inside the thing (it's underneath the road and is suprisingly roomy). In fact it's incredible how big the whole thing is, as written above the engineers did an amazing job and they are rightly proud of it. When they pushed the two parts of the bridge together and met them up in the middle, they put a large bottle of champagne between them and broke it as they finally joined up.

When they pushed the two parts of the bridge together and met them up in the middle, they put a large bottle of champagne between them and broke it as they finally joined up.

[sarcasm] That was the Belgians, but of course the French seem to miss the point that they were involved [/sarcasm]

BTs retired Goon Hilly
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Arthur, now a listed structure.
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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.

Some facts from wikipedia on the line The Cromford & High Peak railway...

The steepest adhesion worked incline of any line in the country (1 in 14 at Hopton)

The sharpest curve, 55 yards (50 m) radius through eighty degrees at Gotham

The highest line in England at Ladmanlow, a height of 1,266 feet (386 m).

Also 3 inclines less than 1 in 10

Here's a few pics taken from a ride up there this winter.

Sheep pastures incline
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The tunnel

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Bunsall incline
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The lead smelting flues & chimneys, the remains of which are all over the Dales & Northumberland impress me. Flues were several km's long. Good examples are around Allenheads & Rookhope. Come to think of it - anything involving historical mining, what is left behind & the conditions they worked in facinates me - should I seek help.....

Evesie - no, you're in good hands here......!

Mountain bikes are such a good way to get out & see all the disused indusrial archeology lying around in the more remote areas of the countryside - another excuse to get out & ride.
The mines, leats, dams & impressive quantities of unwanted rock neatly layed out like hands & fingers at Greenside mine near Glenriding is a not so remote example.

Swarkestone Bridge just south of Derby has always impressed me.

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Cut/paste from wiki:

Swarkestone Causeway The mediaeval Swarkestone Causeway was built in the late 13th/ early 14th century to cross the floodplain of the Trent. It has been reinforced and rebuilt in 18th and 19th centuries and still carries the busy A514 Derby to Melbourne road.

I'm surprised that [url= http://www.industrialfellbiking.co.uk/ ]This website[/url] hasn't been mentioned yet.

Ladybower Reservoir has been mentioned already, but i think we should have a picture:

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Just loving this thread [i]so[/i] much. What a wealth of fantastic structures we have in this country. Great stuff.

no one has mentioned RAF Menwith hill or RAF Fylingdales.

Magnus Production Platform. At the time the largest jacket built in the UK (40,000 tons) at Nigg in Scotland - then transported out and has been there in production since then in some pretty foul weather.... A snip at £1.1bn build cost.

Not too easy to see by bike, I grant you, but pretty impressive!

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or if we're doing foreign things, I think this one is easily older than anything else on this thread (and we've ridden the tandem across it as a means to get from one place to another).

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Though here's a feat of engineering in the UK which is a bit older than that, and has all sorts of interest as a bike trip
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Wow, that Ladybower Reservoir picture. 😯
I can just imagine a canoeist paddling like mad while getting dragged slowly backwards towards it...

brilliant response...like em all...answered first, thought about canal engineering , however after revieingv the geogrpahies I'd now propose that our O.S. maps are the greatest (civil) enginering 'landmark' of them all...(discuss / dispute if u like...)

that depends on how you define landmark

Great thread, plenty of things I've forgotten about, some things I've seen and plenty I've never seen.
I've just found this, I don't know how well known it is though.

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Newport Transporter Bridge, more info [url= http://www.welshicons.org.uk/html/newport_transporter_bridge.php ]here.[/url]

Anderton Boat Lift.

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Diamond light source, chilton ox

made and built some of the beamlines myself, quite proud,

manufactured parts for th LHC at Cern as well 😛

Skiboy - what is that - can you expand a little please?

ononeorange - Member
Skiboy - what is that - can you expand a little please?

[url= http://www.diamond.ac.uk/Home/About.html ]Diamond Light Source is the UK national synchrotron facility. Located in South Oxfordshire, it generates brilliant beams of light, from infra-red to X-rays, which are used in a wide range of applications, from structural biology through fundamental physics and chemistry to cultural heritage.[/url]

My mate's wife has a mug with a picture of Newport Transporter Bridge on it. I covet it.

The mug, not my mate's wife...

Another Newport Transporter Bridge pic . . .

[img] http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y6of56&noresize=1&nostamp=1&quality=70 [/img]

Sadly no longer in regular use due to new distributor road . . . damn progress 🙁 .
Also walked across the Bilbao (iirc) transporter bridge on a fairly recent hol to Spain.

Incredible thread btw 8)

ononeorange,

that website expains it better than i ever could,

here's some early build pictures of the buisness end of the optics hutch beamline, pre-test etc,

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doing this for a living pays for plenty of this,

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😀

forgive the iphone pics, it is my day off

Hambledon hill. I ride over it quite often. Lovely on a summer evening at sunset, you can see all the way to the somerset levels.

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Salisbury cathedral. Not that unknown, but interesting to know that at 123m tall it's still in the top 20 tallest buildings in the UK. Especially considering it was built in 1400. It's the tallest medieval buiding in the world.

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Can I just make a little plea for local riders to organise Forum Rides so as we can all enjoy these structures?

For anyone that's a bit worried about organising, please don't be!!

MilitantGraham is doing a sterling job with the Severn Valley but unfortunately it was too short notice for me.

Looking forward to the next one in the South 8)

Truly an excellent thread - well done everyone. Quite inspiring stuff. My thoughts (before seeing other posts) were also:
[*]The Mersey Viaduct in Stockport - you just want to count the bricks - it's staggering![/*]
[*]Winter Hill - anything you can see for so far around is an achievement in itself.[/*]
[*]The tunnels under the likes of Liverpool, Manchester and of course London - weird when you think about it.[/*]
[*]Ladybower reservoir, and everything that goes with it.[/*]
[*]The M62 betwixt Manchester and Leeds - fascinating to think how they built it.[/*]

However - what about these (from where I grew up)

Some seriously old engineering at Maiden Castle (and there's a bridleway along one edge of it, IIRC.)
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Head north west on bridleways along the Ridgeway and you get to Hardy's Monument (Admiral, not the author)
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Just visible from the monument (if you look South) is Portland Harbour - impressive in itself, but home to remnants of the [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry_harbour ]Mulberry Harbours[/url] used around D-Day.
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Great stuff - thanks again, OP.

Nuclear Structure Facility, Daresbury, Cheshire:

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[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emley_Moor_transmitting_station ]Emley Moor Mast[/url]

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...and the one that went before it that came down in bad weather.

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Thnaks Matthewjb and skiboy. Never knew it was there, and not far from me too.

Reading about building the Wapping tunnel (the first tunnel under water) was quite something. How do you rescue a tunnel that's been breached by the river abopve using basic tools? Good old Brunels.

Of some interest..

[url] http://www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/index.html [/url]

Here's my little contribution. It's a disused wind pump near Winchester.

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[b]Can I make another polite request for kind folk to organise rides so as we can enjoy these structures? A culture ride, as it were.[/b]

Thank you so much. 😀

But these are dotted all over the country, Cinnamon Girl. It would be a bloody long ride to include them all! 😯

Regional rides could be a good idea; routes that string together several local landmarks, that folk could join up to ride.

A London one would be fantastic. Why hasn't someone thought of that before, I wonder?

(Lowey)Thirlmere Aquaduct. Amazing bit of Victorian Engineering. Water is never pumped. Gravity all the way from Thirlmere to Lostock. Takes 4 days.

that's what I wanted to put too! It actually runs near Lancaster, though I haven't seen it, but I did spot a pipe syphon from the train near Kendal which is either it or the Haweswater aqueduct. For some reason I've not been able to find an accuate map of its course so I can photograph nearby features 🙁

I'm trying to encourage people to organise one in any part of the country! Nothing interesting where I live but am pretty busy with organising forum rides anyway!

One was organised at short notice over Easter, it sounded really good but I couldn't make it.

Would definitely be interested if it was Southern, South West, Midlands areas. Volunteers please?

http://www.robedwards.com/2009/08/faslane-poses-risk-of-societal-contamination-says-mod.html

The ship lift at HMNB Clyde Faslane and its associated rail system of craddles can be seen from the hills around Gare Loch.

How about Crofton Beam Engines? Oldest steam engine in the world still capable of performing the job it was built for.

Last summer, the electric pumps on the K&A broke down, and the volunteers fired up the engines to rescue stranded boaters.. I think British Waterways should just pay for them to run every weekend as a sort of hot stand by.

Can I make another polite request for kind folk to organise rides so as we can enjoy these structures? A culture ride, as it were.

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/black_projects/machrihanish.html
http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.php?service=RCAHMS&id=91750
RAF Machrihanish

MilitantGraham - oh, that must have been disappointing for you. 🙁

Do post up another date but with plenty of notice please. 😀

Simon.

Try here

http://www.jdscomponents.co.uk/gates/default.asp

Great thread. I am slowly exploring all this local to us, amazing feat(s) of engineering through the 40'-60's.
54 power stations, 78 dams and 300km+ of rock tunnels built....One book I read claims that a 3 mile tunnel, dug from both ends at once was less that 1/2" off maximum in any direction - remember this was all sighted and measured by eye and theodolite.
Who said 'green energy' is new or innovative - it is simple engineering.
Clicky for PDF of more.
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Oh, and if anyone wants a ride to see a few, then my Hydro / Scotaland ride would be a goer...

er, possibly quite well known this one but as I've been lucky enough to be allowed inside I can testify its as cool as a Bond villains lair:-)

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The MacLaren HQ in Woking.

The London Array...who says wind turbines look horrible?

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and also for some reason the M6 at Shap...possibly cos it leads to some ace mountain biking territory
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Wow - I was supposed to be vacuuming this afternoon, but have spent it looking at this thread. Fascinating, and I haven't managed to look at all the links properly - yet.

Here's a little one that fascinates me: The New River, runs from Hertford into North London, supplying drinking water. Originally ran by gravity but now some pumped sections.

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_%28England%29 ]The New River[/url]

If you go into Whitewebbs Park (Waltham Cross area, Herts) you can still see parts of the original river AND, still there, but not used (sorry, getting excited) - an iron acqueduct or flash.

One of the pumping stations is now Whitewebbs Museum.

[url= http://www.whitewebbsmuseum.co.uk/ ]How cool is this?[/url]

It's very very exciting isn't it? I love all this kind of stuff. I'm going to lie down now.

[img]http://[/img]I think that [url= http://www.nlb.org.uk/LighthouseLibrary/Lighthouse/Skerryvore/ ]Skerryvore lighthouse[/url] trumps Bell Rock. A few year later, more exposed, bigger, equally epic effort to build it.

There's also a great little museum on Tiree at [url= http://www.hebrideantrust.org/tiree.htm ]Hynish[/url] and in summer you can go on boat trips for the 20 mile each way trip to Skerryvore.

In the distance:
http://www.tireeimages.com/detail/surfers-skerryvore-01.html

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It never ceases to amaze me how they'd have built this (these actually as there are two of them)
Ladybower reservoir overflow holes.
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Apparently a bloke wanted a water chute ride one day so went down one.

Water chute FAIL.