Blake Dean Bridge.
It was regarded locally as the eighth wonder of the world - a
railway which, 100 years ago, ran for miles along the top of
Hardcastle Crags Valley, a thousand feet above sea level.
For over a decade the quiet moorland scene was disrupted by the
noise of railway engines and hundreds of men engaged in
constructing three new reservoirs at Walshaw Dean.
At 105 feet high the trestle bridge carrying the Blake Dean
railway across the valley remained a stunning spectacle for over a
decade in the early years of the 20th century.
Enoch Tempest commissioned architect William Henry Cockcroft and
engineer George Greenwood to build the amazing bridge, 700ft long
and made of pitch pine. Carriages packed with navvies on their way
to work and three locomotives on the line bear witness to the
confidence placed in the towering structure which withstood snow,
sleet, hail and gale force winds before being demolished in
1912.
All that now remains of this mighty engineering feat are stumps
of the stone foundations, appearing for all the world like strange
remnants of a prehistoric age.
Blake Dean now.
When you visit Blake Dean, take a picnic and enjoy the area, its
beautiful.
The cache is a lock top box with the usual goodies.
Good luck.