Meldon Viaduct, a 165-metre long railway structure near Okehampton, will require up to £3 million in repairs over the next decade, Devon County Council has confirmed.
Constructed in the 1870s for the London and South West Railway line, the viaduct is a scheduled monument and one of only two remaining UK bridges built with wrought iron lattice piers and trusses.
The Meldon Viaduct Company, established in 1998 to maintain the structure and secure repair funding, is being dissolved. Responsibility for the viaduct will now rest entirely with Devon County Council. A council report stated: “The viaduct requires significant renovation works estimated at £2m-3m over the next decade. Survey works have been initiated to prepare for these renovations, but the funding has not yet been found.”
Originally, the Meldon Viaduct Company was intended to access funding sources not available to local authorities, but fundraising was slow. The council is now exploring grants from organisations such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.
Today, the viaduct forms part of the Granite Way cycle and footpath, linking Okehampton with Lydford and forming a section of the Devon Coast to Coast route. It remains an important local landmark and a rare example of Victorian engineering still in use for public recreation.
