Charwelton railway station

Charwelton
Charwelton in 1909 during a visit by the Royal Train
Location
Place	Charwelton
Area	Daventry
Grid reference	SP536560
Operations
Original company	Great Central Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway London Midland Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
15 March 1899	Opened
4 March 1963	Closed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Charwelton railway station is a closed station on the former Great Central Railway main line, the last main line to be built from the North of England to London. The station opened with the line on 15 March 1899 serving the village of Charwelton in Northamptonshire.

History

The station was one of the standard island platform design typical of the London Extension, and here it was the more common "cutting" type reached from a roadway (the Banbury to Daventry road, today's A361, formerly the B4036), that crossed over the line. Just to the south were Charwelton Watertroughs, while to the north was Catesby Tunnel, 2,997 yards in length, about 1.7 miles (2.74 km).

In 1917 the Park Gate Iron and Steel Company, based at Parkgate near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, opened an ironstone quarry at the nearby village of Hellidon, and constructed a standard gauge industrial railway just over a mile in length to transport the stone to the main line. Production ceased in June 1933 but the Ministry of Supply ordered its resumpton in May 1941. It ceased once more in October 1945, but was resumed yet again in May 1951.^{[citation needed]} The goods yard at Charwelton was a hive of activity at its peak, with up to 200 wagons stabled in its sidings at any one time. As late as 1961 a new quarry was opened at Hellidon, but this proved less successful and so both quarry and line closed on 18 November that same year, the branch being dismantled in June 1963 and the sidings at Charwelton following in 1964.

Charwelton station closed to passengers and goods on 4 March 1963, the line itself on 5 September 1966. The station buildings had already gone before the line closed, though the platform remained until the mid-1980s as so - more critically - did the road bridge. This became something of a traffic hazard owing to its steep approaches, a sharp kink in the road at the apex on the west side, and poor visibility. In 1985 the bridge was demolished and the road straightened and lowered. The platform was removed at the same time. The road now cuts across the site of the platform roughly level with the "Charwelton" name-sign in the 1909 photograph above right.

Route

A 1911 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Charwelton

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Woodford Halse		British Railways Great Central Main Line		Braunston and Willoughby

See also

• Beeching Axe

References

• Catford, Nick (14 December 2008). "SB-Sites:Charwelton Station". Subterranea Britannica. http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/c/charwelton/index.shtml. Retrieved 8 November 2009. 
• Christensen, Mike (Summer 1993). Karau, Paul; Beale, Gerry. eds. "Charwelton Ironstone". British Railway Journal (Didcot: Wild Swan) 5 (47): 334–342. http://www.steamindex.com/brj/brj5.htm. Retrieved 8 November 2009. 
• Ian Allan (1976). British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (Map). 1" = 8 miles. Cartography by W. Philip Conolly (5th ed.). ISBN 0 7110 0320 3. 
• Tonks, Eric S. (October 1968). "Ironstone Tramways of the Midlands (7) Byfield & Charwelton". The Industrial Railway Record (The Industrial Railway Society) 2 (21): 317–319/324–328. http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/21/Ironstone_7.htm. Retrieved 8 November 2009. 
• Tonks, Eric (April 1988). "Northern Group: The Northamptonshire Quarries: Charwelton Quarries". Part II The Oxfordshire Field. The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands. Cheltenham: Runpast. ISBN 1 870754 02 6.