Holywell Junction railway station was a

junction station ''Junction station'' usually refers to a railway station situated on or close to a junction where lines to several destinations diverge. The usual minimum is three incoming lines. At a station with platforms running from left to right, the minimum ...

located on the north-eastern edge of Holywell and Greenfield, in

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, on the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

of the River Dee.

History

The station was opened on 1 May 1848 as part of the

Chester and Holyhead Railway The Chester and Holyhead Railway was an early railway company conceived to improve transmission of Government dispatches between London and Ireland, as well as ordinary railway objectives. Its construction was hugely expensive, chiefly due to ...

(now the North Wales Coast Line) and was named simply Holywell. A brick built signal box was opened in 1902 to replace an earlier wooden one. The station initially had two platforms but as the line grew busier the number of tracks doubled from one each way to two and the number of platforms followed suit. The main station building was positioned on the down platform and a subway connected them all. In 1912 Holywell Branch Line was opened just east of the station which linked the mainline to the centre of Holywell. Therefore, Holywell station was renamed Holywell Junction on 1 May and the new station called Holywell Town. The branch line lasted 42 years before being closed and Holywell Junction was closed to passengers on 14 February 1966. as part of the Beeching Axe, although it was open to freight until 1970. The

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

station building designed by

Francis Thompson Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...

was listed Grade II* in 1970 and is a private dwelling. The signal box was listed Grade II in 1991.

Proposed reopening as Greenfield

Proposals to reopen a station in Greenfield, either on or near the former Holywell Junction railway station site, has been announced in 2019, with Holywell Town Council and its Mayor supporting a case to reopen a railway station. The proposals to reopen are largely based on that the state of the former station platforms remain highly intact. The owner of the old station house, now a private property, announced their property will not be part of any station reopening. In July 2020, the

Welsh Government , image = , caption = , date_established = , country = Wales , address = , leader_title = First Minister () , appointed = First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed ...

included a proposal for a station named "Holywell" in their long-term aspirations for the North Wales Coast Line. In September 2021,

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

released its future developments plan, with a station named "Greenfield" marked as proposed in their short-term section of the plan to 2029.

Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn MS (born 17 April 1979) is a Welsh politician who serving as Deputy Minister for Social Partnership since 2021. She was previously Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government from 2018 to 2021. A member of Welsh Labour, s ...

, MS for Delyn welcomed the plans for a new station. In January 2022, Rob Roberts MP for Delyn took part in an adjournment debate in the House of Commons to raise the issue with Parliamentary Under Secretary, Robert Courts.

History

Proposed reopening as Greenfield

References

Further reading