Holsworthy was a railway station in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England, on the now-closed railway line from Okehampton to Bude. It opened in 1879 to serve the market town of

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, some west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the parish, which includes the village of Brandis Cor ...

and closed in 1966, a victim of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

History

Parliamentary authority to construct a line from

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based i ...

Bude Bude (; kw, Porthbud) is a seaside town in north east Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was sometimes formerly known as Bude Haven.''Cornish ...

had first been obtained as far back as 1865 with the passing of the Bude Canal and Launceston Junction Railway Act (c.cclxiii). However, this scheme was never put into action and the construction powers lapsed. In 1873 new powers were obtained by the Devon and Cornwall Railway in the shape of the Devon and Cornwall Railway (Western Extensions) Act (c.cxii) which authorised a line from Meldon Junction to Holsworthy where a terminus was to be constructed; Bude was not, at the time, considered important enough to warrant its own station. In 1874 the Devon and Cornwall Railway was purchased by the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

(LSWR), commencing construction on the line the following year. Derriton Railway Viaduct

The station was opened along with the single track line on 20 January 1879 and the LSWR began operating a smart horse-bus service to

in connection with the trains. The station was approached across Holsworthy Viaduct, a structure consisting of nine 50 ft spans and the first of its kind to be built entirely out of concrete. By 1898 Bude had developed sufficiently for the LSWR, under pressure from local residents, to extend the line westwards to the coastal port. The new section opened on 11 August 1898 and necessitated the rebuilding of Holsworthy Station; little is known about the first station as no plans or photographs appear to exist of it. The new station was rather unusual in that it was situated between two viaducts—Holsworthy Viaduct to the east and Derriton Viaduct to the west. A new 20-lever signalbox was installed and the

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

and engine shed from the earlier station were kept. The turntable lasted until 1 January 1911 when it was demolished, and the goods shed until the 1920s. The goods yard was unusually large and complicated for a local station such as Holsworthy and incorporated a run-around line to enable short trains to bypass the station without fouling the main line. The station was served for many years by the

Atlantic Coast Express The ''Atlantic Coast Express'' (''ACE'') is an express passenger train in England that has operated at various times between London and seaside resorts in the South West England. It is currently operated as a summer only service by Great Weste ...

from

London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of ...

, but this was withdrawn following the transfer of the line to the

Western Region of British Railways The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex- Great ...

in January 1963. The withdrawal was a portent of worse to come as the station and line were proposed for closure by

Richard Beeching Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching (21 April 1913 – 23 March 1985), commonly known as Dr Beeching, was a physicist and engineer who for a short but very notable time was chairman of British Railways. He became a household name in Britain in the e ...

, Chairman of the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...

, in his

report A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...

published in March of that year. For the last few years of its life, the service to Holsworthy was operated entirely by

Diesel Multiple Units A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

working as "locals" between Okehampton and Bude.

Stationmasters

*Thomas Lock 1878 - 1894 (formerly station master at South Molton Road) *Thomas Furze 1894 - 1898 (afterwards station master at Bude) *Alfred Hearson Webb 1898 - 1914 (formerly station master at Bow) *J.A. Balch 1914 - 1920 (formerly station master at Halwill Junction, afterwards station master at Ilfracombe) *F. Fishleigh 1920 - 1925 *Harry George Parbery 1925 - 1936 *A.E. Heard 1935 - 1942 (formerly station master at Otterham, afterwards station master at Sherborne) *G. Copp 1942 - 1947 (formerly station master at Milborne Port, afterwards station master at Exmouth)

Services

The station today

Holsworthy has experienced steady growth since the closure of its station in the 1960s. The population increased by 15% from 1981 to 1999 and was estimated at 2,116. The town (no longer a village) has also seen significant economic growth with the development of the Dobles Lane Industrial Estate to its north and the conversion of 4.6 hectares of land to industrial use between 1989 and 2000. However, the town suffers from a lack of public transport; as Torridge District Council recently stated, "Holsworthy is not well served by public transport", notably with regard to connections to

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

and

Great Torrington Great Torrington (often abbreviated to Torrington, though the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region) is a market town in Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to ...

; these towns are, at present, linked by buses which are "limited in respect of frequency of service". Connections to

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

are even more limited, "often only weekly if available at all". One means of alleviating the lack of facilities has been to provide for a cycleroute, the "Ruby Way" - part of the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

, along the trackbed of the former railway which opened in 2005, linking Holsworthy with Bude and

Halwill Halwill is a village in Devon, England just off the A3079 road, A3079 Okehampton to Holsworthy, Devon, Holsworthy road. About a mile away on the main road is another settlement called Halwill Junction. This name brings to mind the former signif ...

. The cycleway brought one of the viaducts (Derriton) back into public use. Both are now in the ownership of

Sustrans Sustrans is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network. Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created of signed cycle routes throughout the United Kin ...

. Torridge District Council has indicated that the viaducts, as well as the trackbed, are safeguarded against future development in accordance with planning policies. Access to Derriton Viaduct is provided by the "Cornish Corkscrew", an elaborate spiralling ramp. In the meantime, Devon County Council have continued to support the development and extension of the cycleway project by purchasing further sections of trackbed and seeking to connect the Bude to Holsworthy route to other cyclepaths such as the Cornish Way at Helebridge.Devon County Council, Bude-Holsworthy Cycle Route: Acquisition of Land, 26 July 2006
/ref> The station buildings were swept away following the line's closure and the site, lying between Underlane, Bodmin Street and Station Road, was until recently derelict. It then became

brownfield land In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

and is now the site of a Supermarket and part of a housing development. Nevertheless, the route of the cyclepath, which runs along the southern part of the site, will be protected and the Council has suggested that facilities be provided to serve the route's users, a possible suitable location being the site of the former turntable which is to the east of Chapel Street.

References

{{coord, 50.8077, -4.3535, region:GB_type:railwaystation, format=dms, display=title Disused railway stations in Devon Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1879 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1898 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1898 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1966 Beeching closures in England Industrial archaeological sites in Devon Holsworthy