Churn railway station was a station on the

Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway (DN&SR) was a cross-country railway running north–south between Didcot, Newbury and Winchester. Its promoters intended an independent route to Southampton and envisaged heavy traffic from the Midl ...

in England. It served Churn Down, a remote part of the

Berkshire Downs The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in South east England split between the counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire. They are part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The western parts of the downs ...

. The nearest village was

Blewbury Blewbury is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs section of the North Wessex Downs about south of Didcot, south of Oxford and west of London. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it t ...

, two miles north, which was already served by Upton and Blewbury railway station, the previous station on the line.

History

This was a small and very isolated single platform halt with access only via an unmetalled downland sheep road. It was built as a temporary stop to accommodate a competition held by the National Rifle Association in 1888. However, from 1889 military summer camps were established near to the station which required the use of the halt as the only access to the site. Timetables provided that trains would not call at Churn unless prior notice had been given to the Stationmaster at Didcot.

Facilities

The station buildings consisted of no more than a simple wooden shelter and basic lavatories.Geocaching website
/ref> In order to provide deliveries of goods for the camps a small siding was built at the southern end of the station.Karau, P., Parsons, M. and Robertson, K. (1984) ''An illustrated history of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway'', Wild Swan Publications,

In fiction

In 1905 it was the subject of a fictional crime mystery, ''Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture'', part of Thrilling Stories of the Railways by

Victor Whitechurch Victor Lorenzo Whitechurch (b. Norham, Northumberland 12 March 1868 – d. Buxton, Derbyshire 26 May 1933) was a Church of England clergyman and author. He wrote many novels on different themes. He is probably best known for his detective stori ...

(1905)

Closure

The station closed in 1962 when the entire line was closed to passenger traffic. Freight operations ceased in 1966.

Routes

References

{{coord, 51.5390, N, 1.2560, W, region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Oxfordshire Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1888 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1942 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1943 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1962