Listed Building record MDR8736 - Embankment, north-west of Minninglow Grange, Cromford & High Peak Railway, Ballidon

Limestone railway embankment immediately east of Minninglow Wharf Station on the CHPR, (now NPA's Minninglow car park). The embankment was originally built with single slope, battered back sides, but with a skirt of stone added after the railway was opened in 1830. The embankment was considered too weak in its original construction. Many other embankments on the line were similarly treated. A single arch tunnel through the embankment (SMR 30540) gave access to Minninglow Grange Farm. Limestone for the embankment was gained from cuttings along the line as well as from quarries at the eastern end of the embankment. One of these stone quarries was infilled by a farmer in 1997. A concrete buttress, clad in limestone, was added to the north side of the embankment c.1992 by the National Park Authority to counter potential collapse. (1). Photographic record. (2-3,5). Drystone embankment made from large irregular blocks of limestone. At track level, the blocks become smaller as the wall becomes a boundary wall. The retaining walls (SMR 30530 & 30538) are straight, but there are two long buttresses running either side made of large irregular limestone blocks, approximately 20 metres high. Approximately half of this is made up by the sloping buttresses and the rest by the straight wall up to track level. There is a larger buttress on the side of SMR 30538, against the bridge. (4). Minninglow embankment is a grade II listed structure, built c.1825 from rubble limestone. The embankment is one-sixth of a mile long and c.40-50 feet high, built to carry the High Peak railway. (10). On a section of the former Cromford and High Peak Railway which contoured around a hillside with very sharp curves. The embankment is pierced by a single-arched bridge. (11)