Ashley Heath Halt was a railway station in England on the

Southampton and Dorchester Railway The Southampton and Dorchester Railway was an English railway company formed to join Southampton in Hampshire with Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester in Dorset, with hopes of forming part of a route from London to Exeter. It received Parliamentary au ...

formerly in the county of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

(now part of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

). Opened in 1927, it served the areas of

St Leonards St Leonards may refer to: Places Australia *St Leonards, New South Wales **St Leonards railway station *St Leonards, Tasmania, suburb of Launceston * St Leonards, Victoria Canada *St. Leonard's, Newfoundland and Labrador New Zealand * St ...

and St Ives as well as the village of Ashley Heath itself. This was an emerging residential area, the northern part of what is now the

South East Dorset conurbation The South East Dorset conurbation (also known as the South Dorset conurbation, Poole-Bournemouth urban area and Bournemouth urban area) is a multi-centred conurbation on the south coast of Dorset in England. Extent The main population centre ...

. The halt consisted of two concrete platforms each with a shelter. There was also a public siding for goods traffic behind the down (south) side platform. The halt was closed during the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

, losing its passenger trains in 1964.

History

The Southampton and Dorchester Railway (sponsored by the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

) opened the line here in 1847; it crossed

Horton Horton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Horton Glacier, Adelaide Island, Antarctica * Horton Ledge, Queen Elizabeth Land, Antarctica Australia * Horton, Queensland, a town and locality in the Bundaberg Region * Horton River (Australia), ...

Road at a level crossing, named Woolsbridge Crossing after a hamlet to the west. At the time, this area was sparsely-populated

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

on the fringe of

Ringwood Forest Ringwood may refer to: Places Australia * Ringwood, New South Wales, in Federation Council area * Ringwood, Queensland * Ringwood, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Ringwood railway station, Melbourne Canada *Ringwood, Ontario, a hamlet in the tow ...

and there was no need for a station. Spurred by the nearby residential developments of St Leonards, St Ives and Ashley Heath, the Southern Railway (successor to the LSWR) opened an unmanned two-platform halt adjacent to the crossing on 1 April 1927. The halt passed to the

Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the sout ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948, and the line and station were then closed to passengers by the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

on 4 May 1964. Track lifting was completed by 1968.

The station today

The site is now on the

Castleman Trailway The Castleman Trailway is a footpath in Southern England. Portions of the trailway are also used as a cyclepath but the middle section from East Wimborne (close to The Old Thatch public house) to the River Allen bridge (just south of Wimbor ...

, off Horton Road, the road from the Ashley Heath interchange to

Three Legged Cross Three Legged Cross is an extended village within Verwood civil parish in east Dorset, England. It lies to the south of the town of Verwood and to the north of West Moors. Its population in 2014 was estimated at 2,740. Origins Various explanations ...

. The former line crosses the road next to a shop (formerly the crossing-keeper's house). Short sections of platform including the concrete nameboards remain.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Ashley Heath station on navigable 1946 O. S. mapAshley Heath at Subterranea Britannica
Disused railway stations in Dorset Former Southern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1927 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964 Beeching closures in England {{SouthWestEngland-railstation-stub