This imposing structure in the middle of a field in the Cheshire countryside has become somewhat of a mecca for Harry Styles fans, and a surprising tourist attraction.
The pop star grew up in Holmes Chapel and lived there when he shot to fame as part of the boy band One Direction, which formed in 2010 on the television show The X Factor. You can explore the quaint village of Holmes Chapel by foot, including the now-famous Mandeville’s Bakery, where a teenage Harry once worked.
If you follow his footsteps across a few fields, dodging the cows, you’ll find the Twemlow viaduct. Built in 1841, it provided trains running from Manchester to Crewe passage over the river Dane. It’s also home to a brick wall known among One Direction fans as “Harry’s Wall.” It’s covered in messages left there ever since Harry signed his name in chalk during This Is Us, the One Direction documentary. (It’s also allegedly where the singer had his first kiss.) There are now quite a few names—two of the massive pillars of the viaduct are now almost completely covered in colorful painted words.
With wall space at a premium (as well as being illegal and damaging to the historic structure), tour groups had started offering slate hearts for visitors to write messages on. In August 2024, Network Rail announced that a new wall with blank panels would be built at the viaduct, offering a safer place for fans to leave their mark “and not spoil anyone’s fun.”
