Saltburn Viaduct is believed to have been designed by Thomas Elliot Harrison who was the company architect for the North Eastern Railway between 1854 and 1888.

[1] Two of the piers are set into the bed of Skelton Beck, and the viaduct extends for 738 feet (225 m) in length on a north/south axis.

[note 2][10][11] One writer described the build of the viaduct as being costly and difficult to construct.

[12] The viaduct carries a freight-only railway line (to Skinningrove Steelworks and Boulby Mine) above Millfield Meadow and Skelton Beck, with the long-distance path the Cleveland Way also passing beneath the viaduct on the north bank of Skelton Beck.

Repairs could not effected using modern engineering bricks as this would have created "hard spots within the structure and the potential for cracking at the interface between old and new...".