Cirencester Watermoor railway station was on the

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

(M&SWJR) at

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. The station opened on 18 December 1883, as the terminus of the

Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

line from

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

. That line then amalgamated with the

Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

to form the M&SWJR. Cirencester became a through-station in 1891, with the opening of the northern extension of the line between Cirencester and the junction at

Andoversford Andoversford is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England, about east of Cheltenham. The village is on the River Coln, parallel to the A40.The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 555. In 2019 ...

with the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

(GWR)'s Cheltenham Lansdown to

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

line, which had opened in 1881. Cirencester was the biggest station on this section of the line; it was home to the M&SWJR's locomotive and wagon workshops, and a large goods yard. There was also a huge water tank, atop a stone building on the up platform, which supplied water that was loaded into rail-mounted tankers and taken to the stone-crushing plant at Foss Cross, the next station to the north. Despite the size of the station, Cirencester Watermoor never achieved the passenger or goods traffic that was attracted by the Great Western station in the town, Cirencester Town, and its status was further diminished when, following the

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of 1923, the M&SWJR line was allocated to the GWR, which promptly closed the workshops. The station was named "Cirencester Watermoor" from 1924 to distinguish it from the other station. Passenger and goods traffic on the M&SWJR fell steeply after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the line closed to passengers in 1961, with goods facilities being withdrawn in March 1964. No trace of the station now remains.

Route

References

* ''Gloucestershire Railway Stations'', Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 2003, Disused railway stations in Gloucestershire Former Midland and South Western Junction Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1883 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1961 Cirencester {{Gloucestershire-struct-stub