Sheet piling at back of abutments, October 1888.

An abutment is an architectural term describing "the solid part of a pier or wall, etc., against which an arch abuts, or from which it immediately springs, acting as a support to the thrust or lateral pressure. In a bridge, the masonry (or rock) at either end supporting the arches."

This photograph comes from an album detailing the construction of the Nadrai Aqueduct between 1887 and 1890. The album containing 46 prints was discovered in the Map Room of the India Office Library and Records (now part of The British Library) in the 1970s.