EXPERTS from the Ironbridge Gorge Museum are to examine the ruins of the Purton Railway Viaduct – the last remains of an ambitious business project which bit the dust in 1830 – with a view to conserving it for years to come.
The viaduct was built as part of a plan to take coal from the centre of the Forest to the Severn at Purton, north of Lydney. However the Bill for the Purton Steam Carriage Road foundered in Parliament.
It's main proprietor, Charles Mathias, of Pembrokeshire, had already purchased land and started construction work. But no rails were ever laid and the impressive arches and lengths of embankments are the only remains.
With the aid of grants it is hoped remedial work can be carried out on the arches which could become a feature on an historic walk round the area.
The Dean Archaeological Group and the local History Society could eventually become involved in the project.
"First there has to be a feasibility study to establish what needs to be done. Vegetation has loosened some of the stonework and it will be up to the experts from the Ironbridge Gorge Museum to establish exactly what needs to be done," said DAG director Jasper Blake.
"It is an impressive viaduct which has stood for 170 years and remains as a link with a time when the Forest was a vastly different place than it is today," he said.
•'Beleaguered, broke and only three trains a week...the sorry tale of the Forest of Dean Central Railway' See page 8.