Christ's Hospital railway station
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Christ's Hospital railway station is near
Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
in
West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, England. It is down the line from via . It was opened in 1902 by the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...
and was intended primarily to serve
Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...
, a large
independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...
which had moved to the area in that year. It now also serves the rural area to the west of Horsham. Opened originally as ''Christ's Hospital (West Horsham)'', the station was until the mid-1960s an important junction with, in addition to the existing link to ''via'' , connections to
Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
''via'' and ''via'' .


Facilities

The ticket office is now open from the first London bound train (Monday to Friday) which is about 06:30, until 10:40 when the office closes. There is also a 'Quick Ticket' machine allowing passengers to purchase tickets when the office is closed. In April 2009,
Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
installed display screens to tell passengers when trains are due. In August 2012, the station won Southern's award for best small/medium station, being described as a "charming friendly station with a homely atmosphere, well presented flower beds and even a charity bookstall." The flower beds are maintained by the Aldingbourne Community Trust.


Services

All services at Christ's Hospital are operated by
Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
using
EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...
. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to via * 1 tph to On Sundays, there is also an hourly service although southbound trains divide at before travelling to Bognor Regis and . For a period from the late 1960s until , the station was served by a limited service with the majority of trains passing through without stopping. The station has short platforms.


History


Establishment and early hopes

The site of Christ's Hospital station had been previously used by the Aylesbury Dairy Company which had a small wooden platform on the Mid-Sussex Railway for milk to be taken to London. This platform had fallen into disuse upon the bankruptcy of the dairy after it lavished large sums of money on farm buildings. The estate was purchased in 1897 at a knock-down price by
Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...
school, which had been seeking to move from London. It was expected that the school would attract large numbers of visitors which would need to be accommodated by the railway. When the school's
foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...
was laid by the
Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
on 23 October 1897, the whole school came down by train to Horsham where a
siding Siding may refer to: * Siding (construction), the outer covering or cladding of a house * Siding (rail) A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch l ...
was laid for the occasion. At the time of the school's decision to relocate, the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...
(LB&SCR) had been considering whether to stimulate residential development in the area by opening a station at Stammerham which would be called ''West Horsham''. With the arrival of the school, the LB&SCR believed that even more traffic would be generated and decided to construct a lavish station building at a cost of £30,000 (equivalent to £ in ). The school partly financed the construction of the station which consequently was built to a similar style as the school's own buildings, using
red brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
from the nearby
Southwater Southwater is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England, with a population of roughly 10,000. It is administered within Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council. History One of the oldest bu ...
brickworks A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for cl ...
.


Station buildings and facilities

Five through tracks serving seven platform faces were built just beyond the junction near Stammerham Farm, south of and from , where the Cranleigh Line diverged northwards from the Mid-Sussex Railway. Two tracks led to three platform faces which curved away to the west for services on the Cranleigh Line and the
Steyning Line The Steyning Line was a railway branch line that connected the West Sussex market town of Horsham with the port of Shoreham-by-Sea, with connections to Brighton. It was built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, and opened in 1861. ...
; the Down line had platforms on both sides (Platform 5) while the Up track used the outside face of an
island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
(Platform 4) which was enclosed by the Up and Down Guildford lines. The two platforms of the island platform were built at a very sharply curving angle to the rest from which they were separated; they were said to represent a southern equivalent of
Ambergate railway station Ambergate railway station is a railway station owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway. It serves the village of Ambergate in Derbyshire, England. The station is located on the Derwent Valley Line from Derby to Matlock, wh ...
. Two tracks served the Mid-Sussex Line: the Up line used the inner face of the island platform (Platform 3) and the Down was the outer face of a second island platform (Platform 2). A
bidirectional Bidirectional may refer to: * Bidirectional, a roadway that carries traffic moving in opposite directions * Bi-directional vehicle, a tram or train or any other vehicle that can be controlled from either end and can move forward or backward with e ...
loop line ran on the inner face of the island platform serving a platform adjacent to the main station building. This third platform (Platform 1) was used mainly at the beginning and end of school terms for the reception and dispatch of pupils' trunks, as well as for holiday specials. The station was ready to become an important junction serving most of
West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
with trains travelling from London ''via'' Horsham having the option of routes to , ,
Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
and beyond. The incongruously large station reflected the large numbers of pupils expected daily, as well as the LB&SCR's hopes of large housing developments. The main platforms were long, whilst those on the Guildford line were long, each provided with waiting rooms, large frosted glass canopies and decorative brickwork. The main station building was built in an
Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
style with red and white chequered
polychrome brickwork Polychrome brickwork is a style of architectural brickwork wherein bricks of different colours are used to create decorative patterns or highlight architectural features in the walls of a building. Historically it was used in the late Gothic peri ...
filling heavy cross braced
bargeboard Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin ''bargus'', or ''barcus'', a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym "vergeboard") or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to ...
ed
gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s and repeated over round-head windows beneath. A stone
water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...
on a brick base formed part of the frontage of the station. The main station building was described by
Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, dan ...
as "West Sussex's only memorable railway station", "one of the best examples in southern England of an unaltered
Late Victorian Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...
railway building" and "a better building than the Hospital itself" which combined "a perfect anthology of railway forms". The main building faced a large area intended for
cabs C mathematical operations are a group of functions in the standard library of the C programming language implementing basic mathematical functions. All functions use floating-point numbers in one manner or another. Different C standards provide d ...
which was reached by an approach road. The
goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
was constructed in a different style to the station building, its character owing more to local traditional construction. It housed a crane and a side loading bay with tall doors and a canopy for road vehicles; a smaller office building was tacked on to the side. The adjacent
goods yard A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...
was served by five sidings. In addition, eight railway cottages were constructed nearby for staff. Access to the goods yard and exit from the Down loop serving platform 1 was controlled by "South
Box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...
" (or "B Box") which was brought into use on 27 April 1902 and situated to the west of the station, although it was only infrequently used. On the opposite side of the station at the end of the Up main line platform was "North Box" (or "A Box"), which replaced a previous box known as ''Stammerham Junction'' dating from 1865, possibly at the same time as South Box was brought into use or even a few days earlier.


Opening

The station opened on 28 April 1902, although the official ceremony took place on Thursday 1 May 1902. The station was initially known as ''Christ's Hospital (West Horsham)'', but when tickets were issued to travel to Christ's Hospital school for its opening ceremony on 29 May 1902, they were made out to ''Stammerham Junction''. Special trains bound for the school departed from at 1520, at 1525 and
Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...
at 1540, all due to arrive at Christ's Hospital at 1645. Some of the schoolmasters were dispatched to Victoria and London Bridge to meet the pupils. A report published in the ''West Sussex Gazette'' on 1 May 1902 called into question the wisdom of constructing such a large station for an area which was relatively sparsely populated. The initial service consisted of ten trains to Victoria, seven to Guildford and four to with served by three stopping services.


Unrealised ambitions and gradual decline

In the event, the LB&SCR's expectation of an income from the station to match the size of its premises would be defeated by two developments. Firstly, Christ's Hospital school only ever accommodated boarders; the LB&SCR had possibly not been informed of this when designing the station. Secondly, the anticipated residential development in the area did not materialise. This was largely because the school had purchased much of the land around the junction and had no desire to see their green fields filled with housing, the school having left London precisely to reestablish in greener surroundings. The LB&SCR was therefore left with a
white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, sch ...
: the capacity and stature of the station being vastly out of proportion with its status as a useful rural interchange, rather than an important railway junction serving much of West Sussex. The station was undoubtedly a useful interchange with trains travelling in four directions, but its own passenger receipts remained low due to the fact that its use by people unconnected with the school was limited. By 1953 the loop line intended for school trains was rusty due to lack of use. Much of the station's usefulness was lost in the 1960s when the Steyning Line and Cranleigh Line were closed, both having been put forward for closure in ''
The Reshaping of British Railways The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...
'' report of 1963. The last train from Guildford ran on 12 June 1965 at 1855 and returned at 2034. The event was marked at Christ's Hospital station by pupils from Christ's Hospital school who sang
Abide with Me "Abide with Me" is a Christian hymn by Scottish Anglican cleric Henry Francis Lyte. A prayer for God to stay with the speaker throughout life and in death, it was written by Lyte in 1847 as he was dying from tuberculosis. It is most often sung ...
as the train pulled away. The buildings on the Guildford platforms were demolished shortly afterwards. The 1960s marked the start of a period of rationalisation which began with the closure of the goods yard on 4 September 1961, it having been little used in latter days. South Box closed around the same time. For a time the station was itself threatened with closure but survived following a public outcry and the presentation of a petition with 3,046 signatures to the Queen. The station's name was also changed to ''Christ's Hospital'', with timetables published from 1968 showing the change.


Demolition of station buildings

In spite of a plea from the architectural critic
Ian Nairn Ian Douglas Nairn (24 August 1930 – 14 August 1983) was a British architectural critic who coined the word "Subtopia" to indicate drab suburbs that look identical through unimaginative town-planning. He published two strongly personalised criti ...
that Christ's Hospital station should be preserved in its original form, rationalisation began in autumn 1972 and continued until December, involving much simplification of the buildings and track layout to reduce them to a size more suited to the station's existing traffic. The station was rebuilt out of all recognition with demolition of all the main station buildings and reduction of the number of platforms from seven to two. The platforms that remain in use were originally numbered "3" and "4"; these are now respectively the Down and Up platforms served by the double track line between Horsham and Billingshurst. Rubble from the works was used to infill the road for platform 1 and a section of the subway beneath it. In the place of the station building was a car park. The
Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
platforms were fenced off from the rest of the station but in 2020 they were restored as part of the Downs Link footpath. The destruction of the station building has been described as a "mammoth act of vandalism" and a "slaughter". Only the subway and the waiting room on the Down main line platform survived and this was adapted to house toilets and a booking office. A bus-stop type shelter was provided on platform 2 and has been described as being "of a type that should have been outdated 100 years ago." Prior to demolition a "funeral party" was held by pupils and staff of Christ's Hospital school; 120 people attended with special tickets printed with a black border. The goods shed, which had been used as a lost property store until around 1950, survived and was rented to
Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...
as a distribution depot. Until relatively recently, there was a staffed ticket office in a box on the up platform, adjacent to a surviving semaphore signal.


In popular culture

The station, including the original building, appears as "Longhampton" in the 1965 comedy film '' Rotten to the Core'', which featured
SECR N class The SECR N class was a type of 2-6-0 ("mogul") steam locomotive designed in 1914 by Richard Maunsell for mixed-traffic duties on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR). Built between 1917 and 1934, it was the first non-Great Wester ...
No. 31405.


References


Notes


Sources

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External links

{{TSGN and SE Stations, Mainline West=y, FCC None=y, SE None=y Horsham Railway stations in West Sussex DfT Category E stations Former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1902 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Christ's Hospital