Wingfield railway station served a rural area of Derbyshire, England between 1840 and 1967.

History

It was built in 1836-40 by the

North Midland Railway The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840. At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what ...

(NMR) on its line between

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, close to the road between

South Wingfield South Wingfield is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, it is now part of the borough of Amber Valley and formerly in the Scarsdale hundred. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,514. History and description ...

and

Oakerthorpe Oakerthorpe is a village in Derbyshire, England. History Oakerthorpe is a small village near Alfreton. It was known in ancient times as Ulkerthorpe. It lies in the parish of South Wingfield, eleven miles south of Chesterfield in the county of D ...

. The station closed in 1967 and the buildings, 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 ...

, still stand, but had become derelict until restoration work, funded by a National Lottery grant, began in 2019, with completion expected by 2023. The line adjacent to the station is still in use as part of the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands. ...

. Thompson designed 13 stations on the NMR, of which Wingfield is the only one to survive as-built.

Current status

The empty station building and paved forecourt are

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

due to being one of the earliest surviving railway station buildings, and the only surviving example from the opening of the line. However, it has been listed on

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for actio ...

for some years as being in a 'very bad' state. In May 2018, the station was compulsorily purchased by

Amber Valley Borough Council Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

, due to neglect by its owner. A March 2017 Repairs Notice, served by the council with the support of Historic England, had not been acted upon. In November 2019, the Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust (DHBT) announced that it would be taking over the ownership from the council, following the receipt of lottery funding. The trust is restoring the building with the aim of finding new uses and plans to hold living history events and open days. In times past, this area was important for

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

, with a branch to

Shirland Shirland is a former pit village in Derbyshire, England. Together with the neighbouring villages of Higham, Stretton and Stonebroom, it forms part of the civil parish of Shirland and Higham, which had a population of 4,802 at the 2011 Census ...

.Radford, B., (1988) ''Midland Through the Peak'' Unicorn Books

References

External links

* History of Derbyshire Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1967 Disused railway stations in Derbyshire Grade II* listed buildings in Derbyshire Grade II* listed railway stations Beeching closures in England 1840 establishments in England Francis Thompson railway stations {{EastMidlands-railstation-stub

History

Current status

See also

References

External links