Holmsley railway station
Encyclopedia
Holmsley is a closed railway station in the county of Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

 which served the small village of Holmsley.

History

The station was opened in 1847 as "Christchurch Road" by 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...

. Sited next to a bridge carrying the A35 road
A35 road
The A35 is a trunk road in southern England, running from Honiton in Devon, that then passes through Dorset and terminates in Southampton, Hampshire...

 over the line, it was initially the nearest station for the towns of Christchurch
Christchurch, Dorset
Christchurch is a borough and town in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. The town adjoins Bournemouth in the west and the New Forest lies to the east. Historically in Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974 and is the most easterly borough in...

 and 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...

. Coaches served these places until the construction of direct lines, from firstly Ringwood
Ringwood railway station
Ringwood is a closed railway station in the county of Hampshire which served the town of Ringwood. It lay on the former Southampton and Dorchester Railway, the original main line from Brockenhurst to Dorchester...

 and then Brockenhurst
Brockenhurst railway station
Brockenhurst railway station is a railway station serving the village of Brockenhurst in Hampshire, England. It is located on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth...

. The station's name was changed to Holmsley on 13 November 1862.

The station fell under the control of 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...

 before becoming part 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...

 in the 1923 railway grouping
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...

. The station closed in 1964, a casualty of the programme of closures advocated by the Beeching Report.

The site today

The Burley
Burley, Hampshire
Burley is a village and civil parish in the New Forest, Hampshire, England, with a wealth of tea rooms, gift shops, art galleries and a pick-your-own farm.-The village:...

 to Brockenhurst
Brockenhurst
Brockenhurst is a village situated in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. The New Forest is a national park and Brockenhurst is therefore surrounded by woodland that attracts thousands of visitors all year round. The nearby towns surrounding Brockenhurst are Lymington and Lyndhurst. Brockenhurst...

 road passes under the A35 through the platforms, using the former trackbed for some distance. However, remains of the platforms can be seen, and the station house survives as a tea room at the road junction.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK