The Avon Viaduct is a railway viaduct near Linlithgow, in West Lothian, Scotland (west of Edinburgh). Completed in 1841, it spans the River Avon just to the west of town.
Design The Avon Viaduct consists of 20 segmental arches, each with a span of , along with three smaller, round-headed, approach arches on eastern side, all in dressed cream sandstone. It crosses the River Avon (Falkirk) and a minor road (the B825) It reaches a height of above the river and is long. It has prominent impost bands, resembling cornices, from which the arches spring, string courses above the arch crowns, and terminates in a low brick parapet. The engineer, John Miller, built many of his viaducts with hollow spandrels which later required reinforcement. On the Avon Viaduct, the reinforcement was done with radial bracing made from former rails. In the 1960s, the spandrels were filled with concrete.Biddle, p. 699.Biddle & Nock, p. 148.McFetrich, p. 33.
History Miller built the viaduct for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. Work took place from 1839 to 1841. It remains in use, carrying the Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line.
The viaduct is a Category A listed building, first listed in 1971, and a scheduled monument. Both statuses provide legal protection. It straddles the border between the West Lothian and Falkirk Council areas, so has two Historic Environment Scotland listings.
In August 2026, Network Rail started work on a project to renovate the viaduct. The work was to include repairs to the masonry, repainting the steelwork, structural engineering work and replacing the metal parapet handrails with glass-reinforced polymer (GRP). The work was expected to be completed in May 2027 at a cost of £3.6 million.
There is another Avon Viaduct located south-west of Linlithgow; this Category B listed structure was built for the Monkland Railways and is now disused. To distinguish it from the older viaduct it is usually referred to by the alternative name of Westfield Viaduct.Biddle, p. 695.
See also List of Category A listed buildings in Falkirk List of listed buildings in Muiravonside, Falkirk List of railway bridges and viaducts in the United Kingdom
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