Show on mapThe 8 arch Waterfall viaduct carried the Cleveland Railway which served many of the ironstone mines in this area, it is very close to the main road, but becoming harder to see over the years as trees grow around it.
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Just to the west, on the approach to the Spa Wood ironstone mine is another interesting bridge with offset stonework.
 
Good post. In no way prompted by my previous comment…….? (only joking!)
Maybe if the Staithes and Sandsend viaducts had been built in the same way, to the same quality as the Slapewath viaduct, they would be still standing today. Even if the railway had gone they would still have been useful for walkers, cyclists etc……
The Larpool viaduct near Whitby is still standing today, and the enterprising local council has designated the Whitby to Scarborough railway line as a cycle path. To this end they have tarmaced the viaduct’s surface and restored various bridges along the way. Redcar and Cleveland – are you listening?
Went over Larpool on Sunday and was very impressed. Shottley Bridge to Swalwell has got at least 3 viaducts including the “9 Arches” at Thornley. Just discovered the Waterfall viaduct this year and loved it. The trees on the top are forcing the stone apart so it will be unsafe in a few years and probably closed/demolished unless Cleveland Council tarmac/remove the trees and make it an extension of the Guisbrough cycle network. Is it classed as a monument, and is it on private land?
It will be a shame to lose it……
Well said Richard. I think the overgrown end (the one nearest Charltons) runs into private land, which I believe is connected to Fancy Cottage on the main road. In addition I think the scrap yard was built over some of the track bed, effectively closing off the through route. It would be a crime for it to have to be demolished due to safety reasons, as it has stood for the last 100 years or so without incident up till now…….
As a slight correction to my previous post: the entire length of the viaduct can now be walked and the rail bed emerges onto the road after going around the back of Fancy Cottage. The viaduct looks in reasonable condition at the moment with no obvious signs of deterioration. I have seen a picture of the viaduct dated 1910 (ish) when there were no trees growing in the area at all, which is slightly different to the current situation….
Crossed the viaduct again today. It still feels ‘bombproof’, with no physical signes of deterioration, even with the trees growing all over it. It must have been extremely well constructed. It is such a shame about those on the WRMU, it would have been great to cross the Staithes valley!
Where do you get access to cross it please ??
For access you can either park off road on the bend on the Guisborough to Whitby road A171 and walk up to the track that leads over the viaduct or for a longer walk park at various points in Guisborough where you can access the walkway that was the old railway track which eventually leads you out of Guisborough toward Slapewath and the viaduct. Ignore ‘private’ signs as the tack bed remains accesible. Around 2010 a private indiviual (James Murphy) became fascinated in the stucture and eventually managed to get it listed to secure its future. If you have a facebook account you can access ‘Friends of Slapewath Viaduct’ and learn a little more……including to whom the viaduct was sold in 1972
Apologies…….my earlier posting should have read Richard Murphy and not James Murphy within its text – he being the private individual who managed to get the structure ‘listed’