Camera : Nikon D850
Lens 1 : Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8
Lens 2 : Nikkor 16-35mm F4.0
I tend to split my photography 60/40 between Wildlife and Landscape. Although Wildlife takes up the larger portion of my time I still enjoy getting out and doing some Landscape.
If possible I try to take advantage of my local area but it’s not always easy to think of something or somewhere new to photograph.
During a recent visit to my local camera club, The Melbourne Photographic Society, a member asked me if I’d ever photographed the Bennerley Viaduct? I had to admit that not only had I not photographed it I’d actually never heard of it.
The member explained that it was an enormous iron structure on the outskirts of Ilkeston. I was stunned! Ilkeston is a town only 12 miles from my home in Derby.
A quick search on google revealed that the viaduct was actually slightly north of Ilkeston making it about a 20 mile journey. I looked at some online images and knew it was somewhere I had to visit. Google also suggested that Newton Lane Car Park was one of the best places to park.
Before I set out I checked online for some history of the site and came across the “Friends of Bennerley Viaduct” website which gives a short but interesting history of the viaduct.
The website states that the Viaduct stands 20 metres high above the valley of the River Erewash and is a quarter of a mile long. It is known as The Iron Giant and is a Grade II* listed structure built in 1877-78 by the Great Northern Railway, to carry the Friargate Line from Nottingham to Derby, and beyond. However for much more information please check out the website using the link at the bottom of this post.
Newton Road Car Park was easy to find and has enough room for about 20 cars. Finding the viaduct from the car park is simply a matter of crossing the Newton Road and taking a short walk along the old disused Nottingham Canal. The path is well maintained all the way along the canal to the Viaduct.
As you walk North along the canal path you come to a clearing in the trees where you get your first real view of the viaduct and what a view it is. Even from here the structure is breathtaking. How on earth did they build it? Continuing along the path you come to another clearing with another view of the viaduct but this clearing also has an information panel set into the ground. This panel contains all sorts of information about the structure.
A little further on from the information panel is the entrance into the site. At the time of my visit access to the top of the viaduct was restricted due to maintenance work however
I believe that the restriction has now been lifted so a further visit is planned. As a consequence I took the path to the left of the staircase and walked along the side and underneath it from East to West. Using my 16-35 I took several wide shots but an even wider lens, maybe a fisheye, would have been useful.
It was interesting to take some images of the ironwork that went into the construction of the viaduct as well as standing to one side to take images of the entire thing (or as much as I could).
Conclusion
The Bennerley Viaduct in Ilkeston, Derbyshire is well-worth a visit. Whether you’re a photographer or simply interested in the history and heritage of the area. It makes you realise just what the engineers in the Victorian era were capable of when faced with a need to take a railway line across a river.
As I said earlier; at the time of my visit I was unable to cross the viaduct on the path the railway line would have taken due to maintenance so it is my intention to revisit the viaduct again in 2024.
Friends of the Bennerley Viaduct Website : www.bennerleyviaduct.org.uk
Melbourne Photographic Society : https://melbournephotographicsociety.org.uk/
The Ambling Lens 