Verwood railway station
Encyclopedia
Verwood Railway Station served Verwood
, a town in East Dorset
in southern England
, and its hinterland, from 1866 to 1964. It was one of many casualties of the mass closure
of British railway lines in the 1960s; the last train running on 2 May 1964. The village is now much larger than when the line ran as it is within reasonable travelling distance of the South East Dorset conurbation
.
, a line running north-south, along the River Avon
just to the west of the New Forest
, connecting Salisbury
to the north and Wimborne to the south, meeting the Southampton and Dorchester Railway
at West Moors
. Unusually, the station had an inn situated in the station yard.
& Dorchester Railway Company was formed to build a line between the two towns. The route chosen snaked (Castleman’s Snake) across the New Forest from Northam
to Ringwood
, then via Wimborne to Hamworthy
(the junction for Poole
) before heading on west to Dorchester.
Because of the twists and turns the line was nicknamed 'Castleman's Corkscrew' after Charles Castleman, the Wimborne solicitor who was chiefly responsible for the building of the line. This railway was opened on 1 June 1847.
On 22 July 1861 Parliament granted the independent Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway an act to link Salisbury with what was by then the London and South Western Railway
's Southampton & Dorchester line at West Moors.
3 February 1864 saw building start at Downton. A ceremony was held with the Countess Nelson, who was married to Horatio Nelson, turning the first sod. She lived in Downton and was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Normanton
.
On 20 December 1866, 19 miles of single track line was opened from Alderbury Junction (between Salisbury and Dean) to West Moors (although there was no station there at first), forming a link between Wimborne and Salisbury and passing through Downton, Breamore
, Fordingbridge
, Alderholt
and Verwood. The track followed the River Avon along the New Forest's western edge.
The bypassing of Cranborne
reduced its importance and caused the expansion of Verwood which until then had been a minor hamlet known as Fairwood.
It was a single track line, originally with five, and later four, passing loops; one of these was at Verwood Station. At times of light traffic, the signal box at Verwood would be closed, and all trains would use the main platform on the western ('up') side.
The Albion Inn with its attached stables was unusually built in the station yard, and can still be seen to the north side of the B3081 road, which was re-routed after closure of the line to avoid the railway bridge, and which now passes through the site of the demolished station and station master's house.
The station buildings included a platform canopy on the up line along with the signal box, whereas the down platform only had a small shelter. There were few changes during its lifetime and the lighting was by oil lamps until closure in 1964.
A number of girls used to travel by train to school in Parkstone Grammar School
and they still meet regularly today in the “Verwood Heathland Heritage Centre”; they are known as the train girls. The boys went to Wimborne Grammar School. The railway also enabled Verwoodians to go shopping in Poole.
The adjoining goods yard with cattle pens, a crane and a coal depot encouraged local trade and industry which included the export of sand, bricks, timber and other goods. Unfortunately it also encouraged imports of household “enamel ware” which led to the gradual cessation of the pottery industry. The last pottery, which closed in 1954, was the Crossroads Pottery—now the Verwood Heathland Heritage Centre.
As Bournemouth
increased in population, and with motor transport available, many farmers in Woodlands
and Verwood found it more profitable to send their milk to Bournemouth. Many other farmers took their milk to Verwood railway station around 6 p.m. to be sent to London
.
Verwood was the nearest station to the large houses of many “important” people, meaning that figures such King Edward VIII, Queen Alexandra, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II used the station.
On 1 January 1923 the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway came under the ownership of the Southern Railway
, one of the 'Big Four' companies created under the 1921 Railways Act
.
During World War II
, much traffic passed through Verwood as the line was a useful secondary route between the industrial north and midlands and the naval and military establishments in Dorset.
Nationalisation under the 1947 Transport Act
brought Verwood Railway Station under the control of the Southern Region of British Railways
.
In March 1963 Dr Beeching's report on the future of British Railways proposed Verwood for total closure along with the rest of the Salisbury & Dorset Junction line and other lines north of Bournemouth. In the autumn, a public hearing was held into the proposal, but very few objections were made. Apart from in the holiday season, traffic on the line was always light and closure had been discussed prior to the Beeching Axe.
Verwood Station closed on 4 May 1964, with the closure being received with much expression of regret in the area. All the last trains, which ran on Saturday 2 May, were full.
The lines were taken up in 1965 and the buildings dismantled so that dilapidation soon set in. Few traces of the former route can be seen other than some embankments and bridges like the one in the Albion Inn garden.
Today, the station site is the beer garden
of the 'The Albion Inn'
The site where the station ticket office, tracks, and platforms once was is now a road, with a housing estate built on the old goods yard.
Verwood
Verwood is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. The town lies north of Bournemouth and north of Poole. The town has a population of 14,820 according to latest figures from Dorset County Council, making it the largest town in Dorset without an upper school in terms of population.-Early...
, a town in East Dorset
East Dorset
East Dorset is a local government district in Dorset, England. Its council is based in Furzehill, near Wimborne Minster.The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Wimborne Minster Urban District with part of the Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District and the Wimborne and Cranborne...
in southern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and its hinterland, from 1866 to 1964. It was one of many casualties of the mass closure
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
of British railway lines in the 1960s; the last train running on 2 May 1964. The village is now much larger than when the line ran as it is within reasonable travelling distance of the South East Dorset conurbation
South East Dorset conurbation
The South east Dorset conurbation is a multi-centred conurbation on the south coast of Dorset in England. The area is rapidly becoming an amalgamation with the area of South West Hampshire immediately on the fringe of the newly formed New Forest National Park...
.
History
The station was served by the Salisbury and Dorset Junction RailwaySalisbury and Dorset Junction Railway
The Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway was a railway that ran in the English counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset from 1866 until its closure in 1964. Working from Salisbury, trains left the Salisbury to Southampton line at the remote Alderbury Junction. Here there was a signal box, some...
, a line running north-south, along the River Avon
River Avon, Hampshire
The River Avon is a river in the south of England. The river rises in the county of Wiltshire and flows through the city of Salisbury and the county of Hampshire before reaching the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour in the county of Dorset....
just to the west of the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
, connecting Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
to the north and Wimborne to the south, meeting the Southampton and Dorchester Railway
Southampton and Dorchester Railway
-Planning and Construction:The Southampton and Dorchester Railway, operating in the counties of Hampshire and Dorset, received Parliamentary Assent in 1845 and opened in 1847. The railway was promoted by a Wimborne solicitor, Charles Castleman...
at West Moors
West Moors
West Moors is a village in East Dorset, England, on the northern fringe of the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation, just outside the larger settlements of Ferndown and Verwood...
. Unusually, the station had an inn situated in the station yard.
Timeline
In 1844 the SouthamptonSouthampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
& Dorchester Railway Company was formed to build a line between the two towns. The route chosen snaked (Castleman’s Snake) across the New Forest from Northam
Northam, Southampton
Northam is a suburb of Southampton in Hampshire. On the West bank of the River Itchen, it shares borders with St Mary's, Hampshire, Bitterne and Bevois Valley. Beside the border with St Mary's, Hampshire is the Chapel area, which has been home to some recent apartment building developments in Northam...
to Ringwood
Ringwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
, then via Wimborne to Hamworthy
Hamworthy
Hamworthy is a parish and inner suburb of Poole in Dorset, England. Hamworthy lies on a peninsula of approximately and is bounded by Upton to the north, Poole Harbour to the west and Holes Bay to the east. Poole Bridge, the southern terminus of the A350 road, connects the suburb with the town centre...
(the junction for Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
) before heading on west to Dorchester.
Because of the twists and turns the line was nicknamed 'Castleman's Corkscrew' after Charles Castleman, the Wimborne solicitor who was chiefly responsible for the building of the line. This railway was opened on 1 June 1847.
On 22 July 1861 Parliament granted the independent Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway an act to link Salisbury with what was by then the London and South Western Railway
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
's Southampton & Dorchester line at West Moors.
3 February 1864 saw building start at Downton. A ceremony was held with the Countess Nelson, who was married to Horatio Nelson, turning the first sod. She lived in Downton and was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Normanton
Earl of Normanton
Earl of Normanton is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1806 for Charles Agar, 1st Viscount Somerton, Archbishop of Dublin. He had already been created Baron Somerton, of Somerton in the County of Kilkenny, in 1795 and Viscount Somerton, of Somerton in the County of Kilkenny, in...
.
On 20 December 1866, 19 miles of single track line was opened from Alderbury Junction (between Salisbury and Dean) to West Moors (although there was no station there at first), forming a link between Wimborne and Salisbury and passing through Downton, Breamore
Breamore
Breamore is a village and civil parish near Fordingbridge in Hampshire, England. The toponym is pronounced "Bremmer", not "Bree-moor" as might be supposed. The parish includes a notable Elizabethan country house, Breamore House, built with an E-shaped ground plan...
, Fordingbridge
Fordingbridge
Fordingbridge is a town and civil parish with a population of 5,700 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near to the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest. It is south west of London, and south of the city of Salisbury. Fordingbridge is a...
, Alderholt
Alderholt
Alderholt is a large village and civil parish in the East Dorset district of Dorset, England; situated west of Fordingbridge. The local travel links are located from the village to Salisbury railway station and to Bournemouth International Airport. The main road running through the village is...
and Verwood. The track followed the River Avon along the New Forest's western edge.
The bypassing of Cranborne
Cranborne
Cranborne is a village in East Dorset, England. In 2001 the village had a population of 779 people. The town is situated on chalk downland called Cranborne Chase, part of a large expanse of chalk in southern England which includes the nearby Salisbury Plain and Dorset Downs.-History:The village...
reduced its importance and caused the expansion of Verwood which until then had been a minor hamlet known as Fairwood.
It was a single track line, originally with five, and later four, passing loops; one of these was at Verwood Station. At times of light traffic, the signal box at Verwood would be closed, and all trains would use the main platform on the western ('up') side.
The Albion Inn with its attached stables was unusually built in the station yard, and can still be seen to the north side of the B3081 road, which was re-routed after closure of the line to avoid the railway bridge, and which now passes through the site of the demolished station and station master's house.
The station buildings included a platform canopy on the up line along with the signal box, whereas the down platform only had a small shelter. There were few changes during its lifetime and the lighting was by oil lamps until closure in 1964.
A number of girls used to travel by train to school in Parkstone Grammar School
Parkstone Grammar School
Parkstone Grammar School is a selective, all girls state-school in Poole, on the southern coast of England.-Admissions:...
and they still meet regularly today in the “Verwood Heathland Heritage Centre”; they are known as the train girls. The boys went to Wimborne Grammar School. The railway also enabled Verwoodians to go shopping in Poole.
The adjoining goods yard with cattle pens, a crane and a coal depot encouraged local trade and industry which included the export of sand, bricks, timber and other goods. Unfortunately it also encouraged imports of household “enamel ware” which led to the gradual cessation of the pottery industry. The last pottery, which closed in 1954, was the Crossroads Pottery—now the Verwood Heathland Heritage Centre.
As Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
increased in population, and with motor transport available, many farmers in Woodlands
Woodlands, Dorset
Woodlands is a village and civil parish in south east Dorset, England, five miles north of Wimborne Minster. In 2001, the village had a population of 544.The parish is home to Knowlton Church and Earthworks.-External links:*...
and Verwood found it more profitable to send their milk to Bournemouth. Many other farmers took their milk to Verwood railway station around 6 p.m. to be sent to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Verwood was the nearest station to the large houses of many “important” people, meaning that figures such King Edward VIII, Queen Alexandra, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II used the station.
On 1 January 1923 the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway came under the ownership of the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
, one of the 'Big Four' companies created under the 1921 Railways Act
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, much traffic passed through Verwood as the line was a useful secondary route between the industrial north and midlands and the naval and military establishments in Dorset.
Nationalisation under the 1947 Transport Act
Transport Act 1947
The Transport Act 1947 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under it the railways, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were acquired by the state and handed over to a new British Transport Commission for operation...
brought Verwood Railway Station under the control of the Southern Region of British Railways
Southern Region of British Railways
The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex...
.
In March 1963 Dr Beeching's report on the future of British Railways proposed Verwood for total closure along with the rest of the Salisbury & Dorset Junction line and other lines north of Bournemouth. In the autumn, a public hearing was held into the proposal, but very few objections were made. Apart from in the holiday season, traffic on the line was always light and closure had been discussed prior to the Beeching Axe.
Verwood Station closed on 4 May 1964, with the closure being received with much expression of regret in the area. All the last trains, which ran on Saturday 2 May, were full.
The lines were taken up in 1965 and the buildings dismantled so that dilapidation soon set in. Few traces of the former route can be seen other than some embankments and bridges like the one in the Albion Inn garden.
The Station Site Today
The hotel named 'The Albion Hotel', was later renamed 'The Albion Inn', due to the loss of hotel facilities.Today, the station site is the beer garden
Beer garden
Beer garden is an open-air area where beer, other drinks and local food are served. The concept originates from and is most common in Southern Germany...
of the 'The Albion Inn'
The site where the station ticket office, tracks, and platforms once was is now a road, with a housing estate built on the old goods yard.
External links
- www.disused-stations.org.uk Verwood Station at Subterranea Britannica
- Verwood Historical
- Station on navigable O.S. map