Blackhall Rocks was one of two railway stations to have served the Blackhalls in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

, and was a stop on the

Durham Coast Line The Durham Coast Line is an approximately railway line running between Newcastle and in North East England. Heavy rail passenger services, predominantly operated Northern Trains, and some freight services operate over the whole length of the li ...

. The station was poorly sited for the village that grew around

Blackhall Colliery Blackhall Colliery is a village on the North Sea coast of County Durham, in England. It is situated on the A1086 between Horden and Hartlepool. To the south of the Blackhall Colliery's Catholic church is Blackhall Rocks. Built around the once ...

in the years following its opening and, after the opening of the more conveniently sited Blackhall Colliery station in 1936, it came to primarily serve the more southerly village of

Blackhall Rocks Blackhall Rocks is a village on the North Sea coast of County Durham, North East England. It is situated on the A1086 between Horden and Hartlepool, and just south of Blackhall Colliery which it adjoins. It is sometimes referred to by locals ...

History

On 1 April 1905, the North Eastern Railway opened a new coastal line to link together the former Londonderry, Seaham and Sunderland Railway at and former

Hartlepool Dock and Railway The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interest ...

at . This line was built, primarily, to avoid the steep gradients of the older inland route at and Banks but also provided access to the newly developing collieries of the

Durham Coast The Durham Coast is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. Starting just south of Crimdon Dene, north of Hartlepool, it extends, with a few interruptions, northward to the mouth of the River Tyne at South Shields. Notab ...

. In July 1907, the NER added a station to serve the Blackhalls at what would become Blackhall Rocks. The first station was likely sited here as the sinking of Blackhall Colliery would not begin until 1909 and thus, at the time, it was anticipated that the station would primarily be used by tourists visiting the caves at Blackhall Rocks. This meant that the village that developed to serve the colliery was left some distance from their nearest railway station. Between the summer and 1 October 1919, the station was only served on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The NER became part of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

as part of the

1923 grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

and, on 24 July 1936, that company opened an additional station, approximately to the north, to serve the colliery village. Although this meant that the station ceased to primarily serve that village, a community had begun to grow close to ''Blackhall Rocks'' station during the 1920s, making it not entirely redundant. LNER lines in the North East came under the control of the

North Eastern Region of British Railways The North Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948, whose operating area could be identified by the orange signs and colour schemes that adorned its stations and other railway buildings. It was merged with the Eastern Region ...

following its nationalisation in 1948. By this time, passenger and goods traffic across the country was in decline and this was the case for ''Blackhall'' station, which closed to passengers on 4 January 1960 and then to all traffic on 7 December 1960. Passenger services continue to pass through the site of the station, but the only station between Seaham and Hartlepool to have been reopened (as of 2021) is at Horden.

References

External links

Disused railway stations in County Durham Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1907 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1960 1907 establishments in England 1964 disestablishments in England {{NorthEastEngland-railstation-stub