The London and Greenwich Railway: The Viaduct of 878 Arches

The London and Greenwich Railway opened in 1836 on a viaduct of 878 brick arches. Its engineer, its history and how the arches became shops and bars.

A Silverfox Studios Perspective ON

October 16, 2026

· 5 min read

^{LONDON'S FIRST RAILWAY RAN ON 878 BRICK ARCHES, AND THE SPACE BENEATH THEM BECAME PART OF THE CITY}

Nineteenth-century engraving of London and its railways — London und seine Eisenbahnen (London and its railways), an engraving from Meyer's Universum. Image: Meyer's Universum, via Wikimedia Commons

The London and Greenwich Railway opened its first section in February 1836 and reached London Bridge on 14 December the same year. The Science Museum Group describes it as the first steam railway to enter London, the first railway built specifically for passengers and the first elevated railway. The whole line ran on brick arches: 851 semicircular arches and 27 skew arches or road bridges, 878 in total, built between 1834 and 1836 and running about 3.45 miles (5.6 km) from London Bridge towards Greenwich. Its engineer was Lieutenant-Colonel George Thomas Landmann, a retired officer of the Royal Engineers, and George Walter was the company's first secretary. Shops and dwellings were planned inside the arches. The housing plan was abandoned, but the arches stayed in commercial use, first as workshops and storage and more recently as breweries, restaurants and bars. Parts of the viaduct have been Grade II listed since 1995.

^{THE LONDON AND GREENWICH RAILWAY, LONDON'S FIRST PASSENGER LINE}

1837 view of a train on the London and Greenwich Railway viaduct — The London and Greenwich Railway in 1837. Image: Unknown artist, via Wikimedia Commons

The London and Greenwich Railway Company was formed on 17 May 1833, the year Parliament authorised construction. The line was initially 3.75 miles long, running from Duke Street at London Bridge to London Street in Greenwich, with four stations: London Bridge on Tooley Street, Spa Road in Bermondsey, Deptford and Greenwich. George Walter, the first secretary, later became managing director, and Landmann served as the company engineer. By the 1840s four companies ran over the viaduct approach and paid the London and Greenwich high tolls for each passenger, and the company widened the viaduct to increase its capacity.

The Victorian Web records extra tracks added alongside the original line for the London and Croydon Railway and the London and Brighton Railway in 1842, and for the South Eastern Railway's main line in 1850. The London and Greenwich company did not stay independent for long. In 1845 the line was leased to the South Eastern Railway for 999 years, and in 1923 the company was dissolved and amalgamated into the Southern Railway. The viaduct remains in use, and in 2025 the railway writer Christian Wolmar described the line, in a Network Rail release, as still among the most heavily used parts of the British network.

^{WHO WAS GEORGE LANDMANN, THE ENGINEER OF THE VIADUCT}

George Thomas Landmann was born, probably on 11 April 1780, in Woolwich, and entered the Royal Military Academy there as a cadet on 16 April 1793. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 1 May 1795 and posted to the Canadas in 1797. In 1798 he took charge of completing the fortifications on St Joseph Island in Upper Canada, and in 1802 he supervised the cutting of the canal at the Cascades in Lower Canada, also preparing the ground for widening the canal at Coteau-du-Lac. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography records that on 28 November 1801, at Quebec, he received cowpox matter and vaccinated two children, probably the earliest known vaccination in the Canadas.

He was posted to Gibraltar in December 1805, embarked for Portugal in the summer of 1808 as commanding royal engineer and was wounded in Spain in 1811. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 16 May 1814, was granted leave in 1819 and left the corps by selling his commission on 29 December 1824. His second career was in railways: between 1831 and 1845 he was responsible for engineering plans for several British lines, and in 1835 he was elected to the Institution of Civil Engineers. He published his memoirs, Adventures and Recollections of Colonel Landmann, in two volumes in 1852, and died in Shacklewell, London, on 27 August 1854.

^{HOW MANY ARCHES DOES THE GREENWICH VIADUCT HAVE?}

Engraving of the London to Greenwich railway viaduct at Bermondsey — The London Bridge to Greenwich viaduct at Bermondsey, from the Penny Magazine. Image: Penny Magazine, via Wikimedia Commons

The Victorian Web describes the structure as 19 brick viaducts linked by road bridges, about 3.45 miles (5.6 km) long, with 851 semicircular arches and 27 skew arches or road bridges. That gives 878 spans, the figure Christian Wolmar used in Network Rail's 2025 anniversary release when he described the line as built on 878 arches over a four-mile stretch. An account published in 1840 put the number at about 1,000. As built, the railway was 25 feet wide, with 22 feet clear between the parapets. Cross walls were built between the arches and the spaces between them filled with concrete. The Victorian Web names Hugh McIntosh (1768 to 1840) as its architect.

Historic England lists the viaduct in sections. The Lewisham section, between Deptford Creek and North Kent Junction, was first listed on 24 August 1995 and contains 196 arches in six stretches, built of grey brick, each arch 20 feet from centre to centre and 22 feet high. Historic England describes it as carrying London's first passenger railway and as one of the first major achievements of railway engineering in Britain. Most of the 32 arches between Deptford Creek and Deptford Church Street remain open, and the entry singles out this stretch as the most attractive on the line. The skew bridge over Rolt Street is noted for its brickwork.

^{WHEN DID THE LONDON AND GREENWICH RAILWAY OPEN?}

Heritage panel about the London and Greenwich Railway at Deptford station — A London and Greenwich Railway heritage panel at Deptford station. Image: Nse1986 (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons

The first section, between Spa Road in Bermondsey and Deptford, opened in February 1836, and trains ran from Deptford to Spa Road until the extension to London Bridge opened. Network Rail calls Spa Road arguably the ancestor of today's London Bridge station, and its history of London Bridge notes that Spa Road was the capital's first station, though only a halt. Spa Road closed for upgrades between 1838 and 1842, moved about 200 yards south-east in 1872, was renamed Spa Road and Bermondsey in October 1877, and closed for good on 15 March 1915. Its neighbour at the other end of the first section, Deptford, is described by Network Rail as the oldest railway station in London.

The London Bridge terminus opened on Tooley Street on 14 December 1836. It had a booking hall, company offices and two platforms at the end of the new viaduct, but no trainshed. The extension from Deptford to Greenwich opened on 12 April 1840. In a Network Rail series on railway architecture, the presenter Tim Dunn calls the line the world's first completely elevated main line railway. In February 2025 Network Rail and Southeastern marked the railway's 189th anniversary with an event at Deptford, where Network Rail's Kent route director described the London and Greenwich as London's oldest railway.

^{FROM HOUSING PLAN TO WORKSHOPS: HOW THE ARCHES WERE FIRST USED}

Shops and dwellings were planned beneath the line, but according to the Victorian Web the residential plan was abandoned because the arches were not watertight. The space was let instead for workshops and storage. Historic England's description of the Lewisham section records how far infill has spread. The 33 arches between Abinger Grove and Rolt Street are filled with workshops, the 30 between Church Street and Deptford High Street contain modern construction, and along the 36 arches between Edward Street and Abinger Grove the south face is hidden by adjoining buildings.

The arches that carry Deptford station are a separate case. The station's platform buildings, which stand on the viaduct within the 52 arches between Deptford High Street and Edward Street, have been rebuilt, and Historic England excludes them from the special interest of the listing. Next to the station stands a Grade II listed Victorian carriage ramp, restored by the architects Pollard Thomas Edwards as part of the regeneration of Deptford town centre. A new lower section links the ramp to the High Street, with a steel bridge marking the join between old and new work, and the arches are clad in English oak that closes as security shutters after hours.

^{WHAT THE RAILWAY ARCHES ARE USED FOR TODAY}

Brick railway arches in South Bermondsey — Railway arches in South Bermondsey. Image: Stephen Craven (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Ownership of many of the arches changed in February 2019, when Network Rail sold its commercial estate of 5,261 rental spaces in England and Wales to Telereal Trillium and Blackstone Property Partners for £1.46 billion, on a 150-year leasehold basis. The National Audit Office reported that about 70% of these properties were converted railway arches and about 60% were in the London area. The estate earned £83 million in rent in 2017 to 2018, and about 760 spaces, around 15% of the portfolio, were unlet at the time of sale.

In Bermondsey, The Kernel Brewery was founded by Evin O'Riordain in a railway arch in 2009, and in 2024 it opened a taproom on Spa Road. At London Bridge, Network Rail's five-year, £1 billion redevelopment, funded through the Thameslink Programme and completed in 2018, added new entrances on Tooley Street and St Thomas Street, a single concourse, step-free access to every platform and new shops, cafés, bars and restaurants. Prince William reopened the station on 9 May 2018. At Deptford, the restored carriage ramp outside the new station is now Deptford Market Yard, with 14 commercial spaces in its arches let to local creative businesses.

^{GORDON RAMSAY PUB & BAR AND THE LONDON BRIDGE TO GREENWICH VIADUCT}

Gordon Ramsay Pub & Bar at The Londoner Macao, designed by Silverfox Studios and completed in 2023, takes the London Bridge to Greenwich railway viaduct as its main design cue: a structure built in the 1830s with 878 brick arches, many of which now house shops, restaurants, bars and pubs. The fit-out layers steel, timber, metal and cast iron into brickwork and vaults. The dining room sits beneath arched brick vaults with scalloped ceiling profiles, and dark green enamel cast iron columns stand within the space. Victorian pub cabinetry, panelling and mouldings complete the interior.