Portesham was a small

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 ...

serving the village of

Portesham Portesham, sometimes also spelled Portisham, is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southwest England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of Weymouth, southwest of the county town Do ...

in the west of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

Location

The station was sited across the fields from village not far from an underbridge carrying the line across the Weymouth to Abbotsbury road at a skew angle. Just to the east of the station an incline provided access to quarries near the

Hardy Monument The Hardy Monument is a monument on the summit of Black Down in Dorset, erected in 1844 by public subscription in memory of Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, flag captain of Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Hardy lived ...

History

The station was opened on 9 November 1885 by the Abbotsbury Railway when it opened the line from to on the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

(GWR) (former

Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) was an early railway company in south-western England. It obtained Parliamentary powers in 1845 to build a railway from near Chippenham in Wiltshire, southward to Salisbury and Weymouth in Dorse ...

line). The station had a single platform and a passing loop. The goods shed was opposite the platform and functioned for the life of the branch. The station was the site of a GWR

camp coach Camping coaches were holiday accommodation offered by many railway companies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the 1930s. The coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in trains, which were converted to ...

from 1935 to 1939. The station closed with the branch on 1 December 1952.

Buildings

A typical William Clarke stone building served the single platform,

The site today

The station building is now part of a private dwelling and is used as a holiday let.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Station on navigable O.S. map
Disused railway stations in Dorset Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1885 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1952 {{SouthWestEngland-railstation-stub