Art to spruce up viaduct

Painting starts tomorrow on a viaduct that was built as part of a railway and is now a footpath and cycle route.

Community artist Mr James Mayle, of Balderton, is running painting sessions for residents of South Clifton and Normanton-on-Trent.

They are being invited to help design artwork, inspired by the local history, wildlife, sport and famous people, for Fledborough viaduct.

The aim is to highlight the 814-metre viaduct, part of the Dukeries Trail from Lincoln to Clumber Park, and encourage more people to use it.

The first mural design workshop was at South Clifton village Hall on Monday.

Sustrans ranger Mr Alan Hudson, 63, of Hine Avenue, Newark, led a group of six adults and ten children.

Mr Hudson said: “We are looking to paint about 50 of the 200 panels. We have the funding for the project which should be done by next July.”

Funding has come from the Big Lottery.

After tomorrow’s painting session, there will be another workshop at South Clifton on August 15, followed by painting the next day.

Fledborough Viaduct was built for the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway.

The plan was to take it from Warrington on the Manchester Ship Canal to Sutton-on-Sea on the east coast of Lincolnshire. Due to lack of investment, only the portion from Chesterfield to Lincoln was built.

The crossing of the River Trent was at Fledborough where, due to the low lying nature of the ground, a long viaduct was needed. It was built in 1896 by Sir Robert Elliott-Cooper.

In 1907 the line was taken over by the Great Central Railway. It closed in 1951 but the railway served High Marnham power station until it closed.

To book a place in a workshop or a painting day contact Mr Hudson on 07722 656582 or email at lan.hudson@ ntlworld.com or contact Alan Severn on 07432 888242 or by email at acsevern@gmail.com