The viaduct was designed by George Watson Buck in consultation with the architect John Lowe for the Manchester and Birmingham Railway.

Work began in March 1839 and despite its scale and flooding from the Mersey, the viaduct was completed in December 1840 and services commenced the same month.

Roughly 11 million bricks were used in its construction; at the time of its completion, it was the world's largest viaduct and a major feat of engineering.

[3] Several alterations have been made to the viaduct, in the late 1880s it was widened to accommodate four tracks by the London and North Western Railway.

It took 21 months to complete using around 11 million common bricks and 11,300 cubic metres (400,000 cu ft) of stone and cost £72,000.

[2] Scaffolding and centring used to build the arches were reused in the construction of the Dane Viaduct 15 miles (24 km) to the south.

[1] On 16 July 1841, the first train crossed the viaduct and it opened to rail traffic on 10 August 1842, enabling through services to Crewe and facilitating travel to London.

[1] The London and North Western Railway, formed in 1846, required a continuous four-track configuration along the route to enable express services to overtake slower trains.

[1] Additional tapered piers were built and another abutment arch to carry the wider deck was added at the Stockport end.

[1] The degraded condition of the brickwork was attributed to unseasonably high temperatures in the summers of 1915–1917 which had caused raising in the viaduct's track and parapet.

Councillor David White claimed that an 1840 Act of Parliament guaranteed that all trains passing over the viaduct had to stop at Stockport station.

[9] In response, Labour MP Andrew Gwynne stated: "Sadly no such Act of Parliament exists, although it is common currency in the town that it does.

I made enquiries with the House of Commons Library and the Parliamentary Archives back at the time some intercity trains stopped using Stockport.

The inspector attributed the cause to the driver of the lead engine of the Buxton train, which was stopped at a signal just south of Heaton Norris railway station.