Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay railway station served the villages of

Great Wyrley Great Wyrley is a large village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is coterminous with the villages of Landywood and Cheslyn Hay in the South Staffordshire district. It lies 5.5 miles north of Walsall, West Midlands. It had a po ...

and

Cheslyn Hay Cheslyn Hay is a former mining village and civil parish which is contiguous with Great Wyrley and Landywood in Staffordshire, England. It is situated within the South Staffordshire district some 3 miles south of Cannock, 7 miles north of Walsall ...

in Staffordshire, England, between 1858 and 1965.

History

The station was opened by the

South Staffordshire Railway The South Staffordshire Railway (SSR) was authorised in 1847 to build a line from Dudley in the West Midlands of England through Walsall and Lichfield to a junction with the Midland Railway on the way to Burton upon Trent, with authorised share ...

(SSR) on 1 February 1858 and was originally named ''Wyrley and Church Bridge''; it was situated on SSR line between

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

and Rugeley Town. The SSR was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in 1867. The station was renamed ''Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay'' on 1 December 1912, and closed on 18 January 1965. The station was immortalised in 1964 in the song " Slow Train" by

Flanders and Swann Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. Lyricist, actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and composer and pianist Donald Swann (1923–1994) collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a scho ...

. Besides

and

, the station served the

Bridgtown Bridgtown is an industrial town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District of Staffordshire, England. It is situated on the A5 between Cannock and Great Wyrley. There are multiple industrial and retail estates around the town as well as res ...

area. Bridgtown is situated on the A5 next to Churchbridge. Churchbridge is so named because the bridge over the stream which defines Great Wyrley parish boundary (Wyrley Brook) on the Watling Street (now the A5) at that point, used to be maintained by the Lichfield diocese. A path existed alongside the embankment between Bridgtown and the station for passengers. The path is overgrown and impassable at its northern end but its existence caused the building of the footbridge over the M6toll alongside the railway bridge at Churchbridge. The remains of both platforms can still be seen. There used to be a goods line to the Gilpin's Foundry which left the main line just north of the station with a crossing next to Station Road railway bridge. The foundry used to be situated at the junction of the A5 and A34 at Churchbridge. There is now a housing estate on that site. The station was replaced by Landywood railway station.

References

External links

Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay Station on navigable 1949 O.S. map
Disused railway stations in Staffordshire Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1858 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 1858 establishments in England 1965 disestablishments in England Beeching closures in England Great Wyrley {{WestMidlands-railstation-stub