Wells station in the

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

city of

Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

was the terminus of the

East Somerset Railway The East Somerset Railway is a heritage railway in Somerset, running between Cranmore and Mendip Vale. Prior to the Beeching Axe, the railway was once part of the former Cheddar Valley line that ran from Witham to Yatton, meeting the Some ...

line from

Witham Witham () is a town in the county of Essex in the East of England, with a population ( 2011 census) of 25,353. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the city of Chelms ...

and opened when the line was extended from

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parish in the Mendip District of Somerset, England, some south-west of Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. Mendip District Council is based t ...

in 1862. The station was only or so from Wells' first station, the terminus of the

Somerset Central Railway The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercree ...

branch from

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

, which had opened in 1859, and which would later be renamed as Wells (Priory Road). The East Somerset Railway, though nominally independent, was controlled by 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 ...

. In 1870, the

Cheddar Valley line The Cheddar Valley line was a railway line in Somerset, England, running between Yatton and Witham. It was opened in parts: the first section connecting Shepton Mallet to Witham, later extended to Wells, was built by the East Somerset Railway fr ...

from

Yatton railway station Yatton railway station, on the Bristol to Exeter line, is in the village of Yatton in North Somerset, England. It is west of Bristol Temple Meads railway station, and from London Paddington. Its three-letter station code is YAT. It was opened ...

also reached Wells, where a third station, later to be known as Wells (Tucker Street) was opened. This line too was controlled by the GWR and in the late 1870s a spur line was built to connect the Cheddar Valley line to the East Somerset line, passing through the Priory Road station, though trains did not stop there until 1934. This connecting line opened in 1878, at which time the original East Somerset Railway station in Wells closed, and GWR traffic was concentrated on Tucker Street. The station building, minus its canopy, was later used as a cheese factory by a company called Marsh and Adams, but was destroyed by fire in 1929. The line through the site continued in operation until closure in 1963.

References

* ''Somerset Railway Stations'', Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 2002. Disused railway stations in Somerset Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1878 Buildings and structures in Wells, Somerset 1862 establishments in England Former Great Western Railway stations {{SouthWestEngland-railstation-stub