Slapewath Viaduct

It is not very often that this view is so clear. During the summer months, when the tree canopy and undergrowth is thick, the viaduct is almost hidden from the A171. Even today I have only managed to get six out of its eight arches in. The viaduct carried the Cleveland Railway, which was built as a private mineral railway to transport ironstone from the Bell and Jackson mines in East Cleveland to the River Tees. The mines south of Guisborough were owned by Joseph Pease and served by the Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway. The rivalry between the two companies would make a good film plot. But within just a few years, both railway companies were absorbed into the North Eastern Railway and the Cleveland Railway line west of Guisborough and to the north of the A171 was abandoned. To the east of Guisborough, over the viaduct, the last train ran in 1960. It is a Grade II listed structure.