Northampton Bridge Street is a former

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, the main town of

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, on the

Northampton and Peterborough Railway The Northampton and Peterborough Railway was an early railway promoted by the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) to run from a junction at Blisworth on the L&BR main line to Northampton and Peterborough, in England. The construction of the lin ...

which connected

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

and Northampton.

History

Originally named ''Northampton'', this was the first station serving the town. It opened in 1845, with buildings designed by architect

John William Livock John William Livock (30 July 1814 - 15 March 1883) was an architect based in England, best known for his railway stations constructed for the London and North Western Railway. Family He was born on 30 July 1814 in Hampstead, the son of John Li ...

. The service was from Peterborough to Northampton via

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...

. It was renamed ''Northampton Bridge Street'' in 1876, after a new station was built for the line to

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire. Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the admi ...

. The station meant that people could travel to Wellingborough,

Irthlingborough Irthlingborough () is a town on the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England. It had a population of 8,900 at the 2011 census and was the smallest town in England to have had a Football League team, Rushden & Diamonds F.C., prior to the ...

and

more quickly than before. The station closed to passengers in 1964, the buildings being demolished in 1969. Freight trains continued to use Bridge Street regularly until 1972; a lone remaining group of corporate sidings finally closed in 2005.

Stationmasters

*William Young until 1848 *Robert Snape 1848 - 1852 *Charles Livock 1853 - 1871 (formerly station master at Weedon, afterwards station master at Rugby) *J. Webster 1871 - 1874 (formerly station master at Tamworth) *Charles Livock 1874 - 1875 (formerly station master at Rugby *George Norris 1875 - 1880 *J. Mellor 1880 - 1882 *George William Teat 1882 - 1890 *G. Gauntley 1890 - 1897 *John Edwin Widdowson 1897 - 1898 (afterwards station master at Northampton Castle) *Henry Burrell ca. 1899 *Edward Burrell 1900 - 1907 *William Smith 1908 - 1913 *Philip Haines 1913 - 1920 (formerly night station master at Northampton Castle) *J. Bentham 1928 - 1931 (also station master at Northampton Castle) *F.C. O’Connor 1932 - 1937 (also station master at Northampton Castle, afterwards station master at Sheffield) *Henry Preston 1937 - 1941 (formerly station master at Luton, also station master at Northampton Castle) *Arthur Hill 1941 - 1944 (formerly station master at Upminster, also station master at Northampton Castle, afterwards station master at Wigan) *Bertie Hill 1944 - 1953 (brother of the previous station master, also station master at Northampton Castle) *Benjamin Blackburn from 1953 (formerly station master at Gourock, also station master of Northampton Castle, afterwards station master at Bolton Trinity) *A.S. Harcourt from 1962 (also station master at Northampton Castle)

Former services

Today's usage

The actual station was between the Old Towcester Road and the line; this land is now a housing development. The line still runs past the station site, although the line past the level crossing has been de-commissioned and is likely to become a road/cycle/walking route BC CAAP 2013 There is still a

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 ...

depot on the south side of the line, which includes an old

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lond ...

shed.

Future plans

On 22 October 2013, the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation announced that it had agreed to purchase the disused Northampton Bridge Street branch line from Network Rail for £1.5 million to create a two-mile (3 km) cycle and pedestrian path linking the Brackmills Industrial Estate to the Northampton Enterprise Zone.

References