Abandoned House, Kiln and Viaduct | Smardale Gill

​Designed by the Cumbrian engineer Sir Thomas Bouch - Built in 1861, 90ft high on fourteen stone arches and Part of the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway.

Smardale Gill Viaduct est 1950's

Smardale Gill Viaduct 2021

​I venture this line line that crossed the Pennines to carry coke to iron & steel furnaces in Barrow area of West Cumberland. At peak over 1m tonne carried along the line before the line was closed in 1962 after steel making finished.

Abandoned houses by the old line.

Samantha Neighbour | "My father Jack Neighbour was brought up in the house on the right during the 1940s his father working on the railway.

I remember visiting for the first time in the early 70s when living in Kendal and the houses were still in good condition you could walk upstairs and the old range stove was still there. It's a very beautiful area but cold and wet in winter you would get snowed in during a bad winter.

​My dad used to get a lift on the train if it stopped outside the house on his way to school and the fireman used to through lumps off coal off for the house fire's when the train passed by."

Condition of homes 2021

Liz Neal | "Hi you may be interested to hear my story. My grandparents Jane and Joe Vernon used to rent out the left hand side of the cottage on a permanent basis for holidays when my mam and her sisters and brothers were children.

​I also remember staying there as a child!, I remember the toilets at the back of the cottage which were a big piece of wood with two holes cut out as seats.

My mam remembers having to take turns emptying the contents and burying them in the fields!!! I remember the old Belfast sink and the range cooker!! I’m 60 now and still visit a couple of times a year for a walk and a picnic near the packhorse bridge!! As do my cousins and the remaining aunts and uncles still living.

This place holds very special and treasured memories for all of our family!! My aunty Penny has written a book of poems and photos of the place which I often take out and look at!! I think my parents and aunts uncles spent many happy years there and a few visits to the local pub along the old railway track.

The trains still ran until I think the early sixties so I was too young to remember them!! Anyway hope you find this interesting"

Smardale Gill

Help Save Smardale Gill Viaduct: Smardale Gill Viaduct is at risk. The stonework on this iconic building is severely damaged by water and needs urgent repair and we have launched a JUST GIVING fundraising campaign. https://edenviaducts.org.uk CWT: https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk Recent History: The trackbed was a path part of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust as a national nature reserve and in 1992 the viaduct was restored and handed over to the Northern Viaduct Trust. ​

Video

Smardale Gill Viaduct nr Beck Ln Kirby Stephen
​Viaduct Notes:

• Cumbrian engineer Sir Thomas Bouch - Built in 1861

• 90ft high on fourteen stone arches
• Part of the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway
• Line crossed Pennines to carry coke to iron & steel furnaces in Barrow area of West Cumberland
• The line was closed in 1962 after steel making finished

Recent History

• The trackbed was a path part of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust as a national nature reserve.
• In 1992 the viaduct was restored and handed over to the Northern Viaduct Trust.

Area

• The grasslands on the cuttings and embankments are rich with blue moor-grass and unusual species as alpine bistort, bird’s-eye primrose, fragrant and butterfly orchid, melancholy thistle and bloody cranesbill.
• Howgills as a backdrop with Scandal Beck’s home to white-clawed crayfish, a globally endangered species, and otter, kingfishers and dippers, salmon and trout.

Smardale Bridge
18th Century single arched pack horse bridge that’s been upgraded maybe earlier than the 1700’s , now grade II listed in the district of Eden – Yorkshire Dales.

Smardale pillow mounds are also known as Giants Graves. Two areas of Pillow Mounds on the east bank of Smardale Fell above Scandal Beck from medieval times, and another area adjacent to Smardale Bridge, on the west bank. Artificial flat topped structures sometimes surrounded by a shallow ditch, used for the purpose of breeding wild rabbits and hares for commercial purposes.