With 21 arches, 14 to the north side of its iron girder section and seven to the south, Conisbrough Viaduct formed part of a connection between the Hull & Barnsley Railway and those of the Great Northern and Great Eastern. At 1,527 feet in length, it is truly a Goliath structure built of 15 million bricks - each one put in place by contractors Henry Lovat Ltd, who used an aerial cradle - called a ‘blondin’ - to carry men and materials across the river during its construction.

In 2007, a man was cleared of assisting his wife's suicide after she jumped 115 feet from the structure.

Although the deck has been unofficially used as a footpath for several years, Sustrans has now laid a tarmac path across it, forming a link to the Trans Pennine Trail at its north-western end.