Roman Town

Tag: rail

  • HS2 – A46 Kenilworth bypass box structure

    Some photo’s from a trip to Kenilworth to see the installation of a box girder bridge to carry the HS2 line under the A46 bypass. The structure was created off-site and pushed into place on-site. The preparation for this work took under a year with 19 days used to push the box into place, minimising delays for road users. Top planning from the people at HS2 to do this.

    HS2 A46 box structure looking NE
    HS2 A46 box structure looking NW
    HS2 A46 box structure looking SE
    HS2 A46 box structure surface work
    HS2 A46 Kenilworth bypass box structure SE

    I also took a video with my drone. Check it out here

    All footage taken on the 28th of April 2025.

  • Kinwarton Railway Bridge

    There was once a railway line that ran from from Bearley to Alcester. The line opened in 1876 and connected Alcester into the Great Western Railway network. Trains ran from Bearley, winding their way through the Warwickshire countryside through the villages of Aston Cantlow, Great Alne and Kinwarton before ending up at the Alcester.

    Constructing a railway line provides challenges – the navigation through existing infrastructure – buildings, rivers and in the case of the Alcester Branch public roads. One of the roads in question was the B4089. This road ran connected Alcester to Wooten Wawen and would intersect with the line at Kinwarton, close to the Coughton Fields Lane junction. To overcome this problem an underbridge was built which you can see in the aerial photograph below.

    Aerial photograph of the Alcester-Bearley Branch Line crossing over the B4089 taken just after the end of the war
    Photograph of Alcester to Bearley railway line, railway bridge at Kinwarton, from the road

    Taken by Richard King in 1960

    Fast forward to 1960 and the bridge is still standing despite the line being inactive for almost a decade. The photograph above (taken near the Coughton Fields Lane junction, in the direction of Alcester) reveals that this was a “skewed iron girder” bridge. Notice the red and blue brick pattern, similar to that used on the three-arched bridge over the deep cut over Gerrards Bank.

    Red and Blue English bond brickwork on Gerrards Bank bridge

    At this point the line was likely owned by the British Transport Commission as by February 1961 the land from the bridge over Gerrards Bank up to the B4089 was transferred from them to Alcester Estates. A small piece in the Tewkesbury Register & Gazette from the following month confirms the removal of the bridge.

    Kinwarton A Landmark Lost.-The demolition on Sunday of what has been locally known as the Iron Bridge means the removal of a familiar landmark. It had carried the Alcester-Bearley branch railway line (formerly G.W.R.) over the highroad between Great Alne and Alcester; this branch was abandoned some years ago. In addition to its primary use, the Iron Bridge provided useful emergency shelter from rain to cyclists and pedestrians, and as such it will be missed.
    Newspaper clipping describing the removal of the Kinwarton Railway Bridge in 1961

    Tewkesbury Register & Gazette. 17/3/61.
    Alcester-Bearley Branch Line Imprinted on the landscape today

    Google Maps

    It is easy to see the imprint of the line on the landscape some 70 years after it was last used. A lasting reminder of this fascinating piece of local history.