Infilled

There is some controversy at the moment over the infilling of a Victorian Bridge over the old railway line at Great Musgrave. The railway was part of the Eden Valley Line which ran from Kirkby Stephen to Penrith, via Appleby’s ‘other’ station. I investigated this line a few years ago, but sadly did not take pictures of this bridge and now it is too late. Having read about this infilling, we decided to go and find it, which we did. 


The infilling was carried out by Highways England, who since 2013 have had responsibility for 3,200 former railway structures - called the ‘Historic Railways Estate’. Their number one priority seems to be ‘public safety’ so, on the basis of the bridge being deemed (in 1998!) to be weak, they poured 1,000 tonnes of concrete and aggregate under the bridge to fill it in. This apparently cost £128,000. (Their own engineers had said that it could be repaired and made safe for £5,000). There doesn’t seem to be anything in their remit for dealing with these bridges that refers to the protection of Victorian architecture; no cultural/historic/social value at all. 

There are two issues with the Great Musgrave bridge : one that they were not given planning permission and Eden Council now says that they need to apply retrospectively and, if they fail, then they will have to remove the infill. The other issue is to do with the work that has been going on for many years to restore part of the Eden Valley and the Stainmore railways. To get to the next stage they need this bridge!

Warning
This incident is apparently the start of a nation-wide programme of infilling, which may involve up to 100 bridges, and has been described as ‘cultural vandalism’. So, if you have a Victorian bridge that you are quite fond of, watch out - it might be on the list. (Despite this being Highways England, the list includes bridges in Scotland.)


Extra
And I just had to share this photo that our daughter sent us today.There is a huge yacht ‘parked’ in Penzance Bay, supposedly it belongs to Tom Cruise. So she decided to send their dog out to say hello! (It is possible to find out an awful lot about the vessel . . . but not who owns it!)