Holt railway station was a railway station, since closed and dismantled, that served the town of Holt in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was part of the

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated ...

network, which spread over much of East Anglia, providing connections to

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are Nor ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

and Yarmouth. Closed in 1964, there are proposals to rebuild the line through the locality as part of an orbital railway scheme.

History

Construction

In 1880 and 1881, the ''Lynn & Fakenham Railway'' obtained successive

Acts of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament be ...

authorising the construction of a line north from its Melton Constable station as far as

Kelling Heath Kelling Heath is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Holt and Weybourne in Norfolk. It is in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Geology Kelling Heath lies on the Cromer Ridge, a glacial moraine forme ...

where it would fork: one branch heading to the north-west to reach the fishing port of Blakeney, whilst the second would proceed to the north-east to reach the coastal village of

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is an English seaside town within the county of Norfolk, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban Distr ...

and then Cromer. A new company – the ''Eastern & Midlands Railway'' – was formed to build the line. Construction began in April 1883 and later that year the rails had reached Holt, five miles from Melton Constable, but work on the station and yard did not begin until much later. Holt was to remain the line's northern terminus and only station until 1887 when it finally reached Cromer. The line to Blakeney was never built due to doubts over its viability.

Station building

The original 1884 building consisted of little more than a sleeper platform and basic wooden buildings. Upon the completion of the line to Cromer, more durable buildings – most likely designed by William Marriott – were built; these included a brick-built main station building of typical Midland and Great Northern (M&GN) design, with a central block and two projecting

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d cross wings – the central portion being set back slightly to form a

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

for passengers on the down platform. A wooden waiting shelter was erected on the up platform with a saw-tooth canopy. The original wooden station building later became a 'reading room' at Melton Constable station. Holt station was destroyed by fire in 1926 and a concrete replacement was built.Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society, "Holt Station".
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Decline and closure

When most of the former M&GN railway lines were closed in 1959, the branch through Holt remained open until 1964. Following closure of the line between Melton Constable and Sheringham, the station buildings at Holt were demolished and part of the trackbed subsequently reused to construct part of the A148 Holt bypass. In 1965 a company known as Central Norfolk Enterprises (which changed its name to the

North Norfolk Railway The North Norfolk Railway (NNR) – also known as the "Poppy Line" – is a heritage steam railway in Norfolk, England, running between the towns of Sheringham and Holt. The North Norfolk Railway is owned and operated as a public limite ...

(NNR)) attempted to purchase the trackbed, but was rebuffed by

Norfolk County Council Norfolk County Council is the top-tier local government authority for Norfolk, England. Its headquarters are based in the city of Norwich. Below it there are 7 second-tier local government district councils: Breckland District, Broadland Distr ...

which wished to proceed with the road scheme. The NNR did manage to restore the line between Sheringham and Weybourne and, in 1987, opened a replacement Holt station on the edge of the town. The NNR also salvaged Holt's original signal box which was relocated to Weybourne.

Present and future

The proposed

Norfolk Orbital Railway The Norfolk Orbital Railway — as the Holt, Melton Constable and Fakenham Railway Company — is a proposed rail project in Norfolk, England, which is proposed to look at bringing a new rail connection to North and Mid Norfolk. The proposed l ...

could provide Holt with a regular railway service again. It would link

and

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, south-west of Norwich off the A11 road to London. The River Tiffey runs through. The parish, one of Norfolk's largest, includes rural areas to ...

together, using the existing lines of the

(NNR) and the

Mid Norfolk Railway The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "new generation" ...

, laying some new connecting track onto old track-beds. The project is facilitated by the fact that reinstatement through Holt remains technically possible, as the A148 bypass was built to leave sufficient width alongside it to enable a single-track railway line to be constructed. The scheme therefore proposes a new route running from the NNR's Holt station, crossing the A148 on the level before running alongside the road to the site of the original Holt station, where a very basic station would be provided. From there, it would continue in a

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

, running beneath Station Road and Norwich Road, before rejoining the line's original alignment to reach

Melton Constable Melton Constable is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 518 in 225 households at the 2001 census. The population had increased to 618 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of ...

References

Bibliography

External links

Holt station on navigable 1946 O. S. map
{{closed stations norfolk Disused railway stations in Norfolk Former Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1884 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964 Beeching closures in England Holt, Norfolk