Gresford (for Llay) Halt was a small railway station located on the Great Western Railway's

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

line a few miles north of

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in Wales and halfway up the Gresford bank.

Station structures

The station house was stone-built, consisted of two storeys, and designed in the

cottage orné Cottage orné () dates back to a movement of "rustic" stylised cottages of the late 18th and early 19th centuries during the Romantic movement, when some sought to discover a more natural way of living as opposed to the formality of the preceding ...

style. There was a simple waiting shelter on the platform. The architect was

Thomas Penson Thomas Penson, or Thomas Penson the younger (c. 1790 – 1859) was the county surveyor of Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire. An innovative architect and designer of a number of masonry arch bridges over the River Severn and elsewhere. He was th ...

of Chester. The downward (Chester bound) platform was lengthened in 1884. In about 1904–1905, the downward platform, built on wooden pillars, was replaced with a brick structure. A footbridge was constructed over the railway line near to the station in 1908.

Station staff

In 1884, Henry Rickers was the Gresford signalman. In September 1902, John Roberts, the Gresford stationmaster retired due to ill-health. He had been the stationmaster for 37 years. In December 1906, Mr W. Wright the Gresford signalman retired. In 1909, Mr G. Meeson, the Gresford stationmaster won £5 for the best kept station in the Northern Division.

Closure

The station was closed on 10 September 1962. The route is still open today as part of the

Shrewsbury to Chester Line Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

but nothing now remains on the site of the halt. The double track on the Wrexham to Chester section was singled in 1983 and re-doubled in part, with work completed in April 2017.

Fatal accident

On Saturday 9 August 1884, William Panter, a 17-year-old was employed as a contractor working on the modifications to the down (Chester bound) platform. He was doing his work by standing on the railway line when he was hit by a train travelling towards Wrexham. He was carried along the railway line and died. A coroner's inquest conducted at the Griffin Inn came to the verdict of accidental death.

Neighbouring stations

References

External links

Gresford (for Llay) Halt on navigable 1946 O.S. map
Disused railway stations in Wrexham County Borough Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1962 1846 establishments in Wales {{Wales-railstation-stub