Knowle Halt was a railway station in the county of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

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 served by trains on the Eastleigh to Fareham and Meon Valley lines. The station opened in 1907 and closed in 1964.

History

Opening

The station was opened on 1 May 1907 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) to serve

Knowle Hospital Knowle Hospital, was a psychiatric hospital in the village of Knowle near the town of Fareham in Hampshire, southern England, which opened in 1852 and closed in 1996. History A committee of nine JPs were appointed at the Easter Quarter Sessio ...

, then known as the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum. Opened as Knowle Asylum Halt, its name was changed to Knowle Platform and then, from 1942, to Knowle Halt.

Facilities

From the beginning, this simple halt was fitted with electric lights, powered from the nearby hospital's generators. This made it one of the first rural stations in Hampshire to have electric lighting.

Closure

The station was originally closed on 12 August 1963, but was re-opened the following day due to objections from

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

. The halt finally closed on 6 April 1964.

The site today and future plans

The concrete supports of the former platform still exist alongside the now single track of the Eastleigh to Fareham Line. Due to the provision of much new housing on and around the former hospital site, on the outskirts of Fareham, it has been suggested that the station should be considered for reopening. In February 2017 it was reported that

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

had recently met with

Fareham Borough Council Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufact ...

to discuss various options for connecting the new Welborne development to the existing railway network, and had offered to work with the council to look at providing a new station at the site.

Route

References

External links

Details of routeDisused Stations web-site
Disused railway stations in Hampshire Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1907 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964 {{SouthEastEngland-railstation-stub