Kenyon Junction was a railway station at

Kenyon Kenyon may refer to: Names * Kenyon (given name) * Kenyon (surname) Places * Kenyon, Cheshire, United Kingdom, a village * Kenyon, Minnesota, United States, a city * Kenyon, Rhode Island, United States, a village * Kenyon, former name of Pineridg ...

near

Culcheth Culcheth is a village in the Borough of Warrington, ceremonial county of Cheshire and historic county of Lancashire, England, six miles (10 km) north-east of Warrington town centre; it is the principal settlement in Culcheth and Glazebury ci ...

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, England. The station was built at the junction of the

Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...

and the

Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway The Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway (K&LJR) was constructed to link the Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR), which terminated at the Leigh Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) at Kenyon. The B&L ...

. It was situated in the historic county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. The station opened in 1830 as Bolton Junction and closed to passengers on 2 January 1961 before closing completely on 1 August 1963. The junction fell out of use when the line serving Leigh was closed in 1969.

History

The station was opened on 15 September 1830 as part of the

. It was originally named Bolton Junction before being renamed Kenyon Junction in June 1843. The early station was criticised for poor facilities and missed connections and was reconstructed in 1883. The London and North Western Railway's

Tyldesley Loopline The Tyldesley Loopline was part of the London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway line from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station and its continuance south west via Bedford Leigh to Kenyon Junction on the Live ...

from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station continued south west to Leigh, Pennington and Kenyon Junction opened in 1864. The original engine shed closed before 1870. Large sidings accommodated goods and coal traffic from Bag Lane, Westleigh, Bickershaw and Abram Collieries and Jacksons and Speakmans Sidings in

Bedford, Greater Manchester Bedford, a suburb of Leigh, Greater Manchester is one of three ancient townships, Bedford, Pennington and Westleigh, that merged in 1875 to form the town of Leigh. Historically, Bedford was in Lancashire. History Toponymy Bedford means the "f ...

, Leigh. There were two signal boxes. All stations on the line to

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

closed in 1954. The stationmaster's house remains in occupation, complete with its own railway bridge to cross the Manchester to Liverpool line, but is not visible from the road.

Potential reopening

In 2001 a proposal to rebuild Kenyon Junction station, which met with much local opposition, was abandoned following the rejection of plans to build a leisure complex in Leigh which the rebuilt station would have served. Locals have lobbied to rebuild the station and build a link to Leigh. In March 2019, Andy Burnham backed plans to reopen the station as a short-term solution to link Leigh to the rail network. The plans are also backed by the Leigh MP James Grundy.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

The station's history
''Disused Stations UK''

''npe maps''
The station on an 1849 OS map
''National Library of Scotland''
The station on an 1892 series OS map overlay
''National Library of Scotland''
The line, stations and mileages
''railwaycodes'' {{s-end Disused railway stations in Warrington Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1830 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1961 1830 establishments in England