The Highclere, Kingsclere and Basingstoke Light Railway was a proposed
light railway in
Hampshire, England, connecting the
Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway (DNSR) with the
London and South Western Railway (LSWR).
Despite public support of the railway proposal, sufficient funding was never obtained and the proposals were abandoned.
History
The passing of the
Light Railways Act
The Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
History
Before the Act each new railway line built in the country required a specific Act of Parliament to be ob ...
in 1896 led to the proposal of two
light railways in Hampshire—the
Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway and the Highclere, Kingsclere and Basingstoke Light Railway.
The former was begun in 1898, and in 1900 a proposal for the Highclere—Basingstoke line was issued.
The proposal called for public subscription, and sufficient interest was gathered to allow an amount of land in
Kingsclere (at the present-day Wellmans Meadow, ) to be purchased for Kingsclere Station.
Other methods of acquiring land included offering landowners
shares
In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...
in the railway in return for access to their land.
There was much public interest in Kingsclere about the railway,
though sufficient funds—in either cash or shares—were never raised and the proposal was dropped in the early 20th century.
Route
The proposed railway would have diverged from the DNSR south of near the village of
Burghclere.
From there it would have headed south-east through the villages of
Ecchinswell
Ecchinswell is a village in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England.
Geography
Watership Down, location of Richard Adams' novel of the same name, is just south of Ecchinswell. Ladle Hill on Great Litchfield Down, also lies to t ...
,
Kingsclere,
Wolverton,
Ramsdell,
Monk Sherborne
Monk Sherborne is a village in north Hampshire, England.
Sherborne Priory is the burial place of William of Drogheada.
Governance
Monk Sherborne is a civil parish and is part of the Sherborne St. John ward of Basingstoke and Deane borough counc ...
and
Sherborne St John
Sherborne St John is a village and civil parish near Basingstoke in the English county of Hampshire.
History
The village was named in the Domesday book as ''Sireburne''. It became ''Shireburna'' (12th century), Schyreburne (13th century) and Sh ...
.
Each of these villages would have been served by its own station.
References
{{reflist
Abandoned rail transport projects in the United Kingdom