Crystal Palace (High Level) railway station
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Crystal Palace (High Level) was a railway station in
South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...
. It was one of two stations built to serve the new site of the
Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...
building,
the Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibit ...
, when it was moved from
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
to
Sydenham Hill Sydenham Hill forms part of a longer ridge and is an affluent locality in southeast London. It is also the name of a road which runs along the northeastern part of the ridge, demarcating the London Boroughs of Southwark, Bromley, and Lewisham ...
after 1851. It was the terminus of the
Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway The Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway (CPSLJR) was built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) from to Crystal Palace High Level to serve the Crystal Palace after the building was moved to the area that became known as ...
(CPSLJR), which was later absorbed by the
London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and nor ...
(LCDR).


History


Origins

In 1860 the LCDR had a route from to
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
via the existing Crystal Palace station (later known as "Low Level"), but this was owned and operated by the rival
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 ...
(LBSCR). To capture traffic from the LBSCR the LCDR promoted the CPSLJR to construct a branch from on the
South London Line The South London line is a railway line in inner south London, England. The initial passenger service on the route was established by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway on 1 May 1867 when the central London terminal stations of Victoria ...
via
Nunhead Nunhead is a suburb in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England.Southwark Council Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Council It is an inner-city suburb located southeast of Charing Cross. It is the location of the Nunhead Cemetery.BBC ...
to a new terminal station above the Crystal Palace park. The line, and the terminus only, opened on 1 August 1865. It was on the southern boundary of the ''Hamlet of Dulwich'' division of the ancient Civil Parish of Camberwell St. Giles.Following the creation of the LCC it was in the
Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell Camberwell was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in south London, England. Camberwell was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey, governed by an administrative vestry from 1674. The parish was included in the area of responsibility ...
, and subsequently the
London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...
.


Features

The station was designed by
Charles Barry Jr. Charles Barry Jr. (1823–1900) was an England, English architect of the mid-late 19th century, and eldest son of Sir Charles Barry. Like his younger brother and fellow architect Edward Middleton Barry, Charles Jr. designed numerous buildings in ...
as a lavish red brick and buff
terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
building. It was excavated into the ridge below Crystal Palace Parade, approached from the north through the Paxton Tunnel, requiring major engineering works. There were subway exits leading under Crystal Palace Parade into
Crystal Palace Park Crystal Palace Park is a Victorian pleasure ground located in the South London suburb of Crystal Palace which surrounds the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building. The Palace had been relocated from Hyde Park, London after the 18 ...
, linking the station directly with the palace. The subway was a vaulted and tiled chamber resembling a Byzantine crypt; it was designed and built by cathedral craftsmen from Italy. The building was a fine example of High Victorian architecture with high brick side- and end-walls and a glass and iron trainshed roof. It had square towers at each corner, each topped with four short spires, and passenger concourses above the tracks at each end with booking offices, refreshment rooms and waiting rooms. One half of the station was intended for first class passengers, who were given segregated access into the central transept of the palace. The trainshed was divided lengthways into two cavernous spaces separated by a brick-arch arcade, each side having two tracks with wooden platforms. The inner track on each side had two platform faces to support mass arrivals. At the exit from the tunnel the two running lines fanned out into four platform tracks, with eight sidings and a long headshunt on the right and two more sidings on the left. In addition to the usual coal depot, the sidings provided stabling for spare engines and coaching stock to handle the expected surges of traffic during big events. The platform roads entered the north end of the trainshed via separate portals. At the south end, instead of a typical arrangement of buffers and engine release roads the four platform tracks passed through a second set of apertures to a turntable, allowing for fast turning of engines to run round their coaches.


Decline and closure

The line was one of the first of the former
South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easter ...
to be
electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...
by Southern Railway, under "South Eastern Electrification – Stage 1" in July 1925. But after the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire in 1936, traffic on the branch declined. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the line was temporarily closed after bomb damage. Although temporary repairs were made and the line subsequently reopened the decline in traffic and a requirement for heavy reconstruction work led to the decision to close the station with the branch on 20 September 1954, although it was not demolished until 1961.


Surviving structures

Although the site of the station was developed for housing in the 1970s, the retaining walls below Crystal Palace Parade and the ornamental portal of Paxton Tunnel to the north are still readily visible.This appears in the
Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...
film of 1958 titled "
Amelia and the Angel ''Amelia and the Angel'' is a 1958 British film directed by Ken Russell. It was his second completed film after ''Peep Show''. The movie was seen by Huw Wheldon and led to his offering Russell a full-time job. Plot A schoolgirl, Amelia, attempts ...
".
The brickwork fits exactly although the ground level is raised. The subway and an adjacent courtyard survived the 1936 fire and was used as an
air raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...
during World War II. It is now a Grade II*
listed building 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 ...
. Although the subway is sealed off, it is sometimes opened to allow organised visits by "Friends of Crystal Palace Subway". Southwark Model Railway Club have built a scale model of the station.


The "train entombed in the tunnel" myth

There is a rumour that, in one of the sealed tunnels in the area, an engine or carriage remains hidden collecting dust. Another version of the story, popular among local schoolchildren, claims that the High-Level station was closed because a commuter train was trapped by a tunnel collapse, entombing the passengers, who remain there to this day.Crystal Palace High Level & Upper Norwood Station a
Subterranea Britannica
/ref> These stories are an example of the persistence of local
urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
. The story of the entombed train was apparently current in the 1930s. Back then it referred to the abandoned 1860s
pneumatic railway An atmospheric railway uses differential air pressure to provide power for propulsion of a railway vehicle. A static power source can transmit motive power to the vehicle in this way, avoiding the necessity of carrying mobile power generating eq ...
on the north side of the grounds of Crystal Palace Park. Most traces of this had almost certainly been destroyed by the building works for the 1911 Festival of Empire, but there was an unsuccessful archaeological dig for the train sponsored by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''Nationwide'' current-affairs programme in the 1970s.


Notes


References


Further reading

*''Crystal Palace (High Level) and Catford Loop'' by V Mitchell & K Smith, Middleton Press, 1991 *The Railway through Sydenham Hill Wood, From the Nun's Head to the Screaming Alice by Mathew Frith, The Friends of the Great North Wood and London Wildlife Trust leaflet 1995 *''London's Local Railways'' by A A Jackson, David & Charles, 1978 *The Crystal Palace (High Level) Branch by W Smith, British Railway Journal 28, 1989


External links


London's Abandoned Stations – Crystal Palace branch
* Crystal Palace High Level & Upper Norwood Station a
Subterranea Britannica

Interior of the VIP entrance to the Exhibition

Friends of Crystal Palace Subway
{{Authority control Crystal Palace, London Disused railway stations in the London Borough of Southwark Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1865 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1917 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1919 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1944 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1946 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1954 Urban legends