The Stockport Viaduct is a large brick-built bridge which carries the West Coast Main Line across the valley of the River Mersey, in Stockport, Greater Manchester (grid reference SJ89089030).

It is the largest brick structure in Europe and was designed by George Watson Buck for the Manchester and Birmingham Railway and completed in 1840. The viaduct is 33.85 metres (111.1 ft) high. At the time of its construction it was the largest viaduct in the world, and it represents a major feat of Victorian engineering and a key pioneering structure of the railway age. It is currently a Grade II* listed structure, and remains one of the world’s biggest brick structures.

The M60 motorway passes through two of the viaduct’s arches between Junction 1 (A5145 road) and Junction 27 (Portwood Roundabout).

History
The 27 arch viaduct took 21 months to build and cost £70,000; 11,000,000 bricks were used in its…