It lies between the town of Great Harwood, in the district of Hyndburn, and the village of Read, in the adjacent Ribble Valley district.

As the river that it crosses marks the boundary, the viaduct is thus situated in both those districts.

[1] Designed by Sturges Meek,[2] Chief Engineer of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, it was built between 1870 and 1877 to carry the Great Harwood Loop (also known as the North Lancashire Loop) of the East Lancashire Line over the River Calder.

[3] The viaduct was originally intended to be a wooden construction, but was eventually built in sandstone rubble.

In 1984 it was designated a Grade II listed structure by the organisation then known as English Heritage (now Historic England).