Stanmore Village railway station was a station in

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

in the

south of England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes Gr ...

(now in

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

). Originally called simply ''Stanmore'', it was opened on 18 December 1890 by the Harrow and Stanmore Railway, a company owned by the hotel millionaire Frederick Gordon, as the terminus of the

Stanmore branch line The Stanmore branch line was a railway line in Harrow, Middlesex (now Greater London), in the United Kingdom. Located to the north of London, it provided commuter rail services between Harrow and the village of Stanmore. Beginning at Harrow s ...

, a short branch line running north from Harrow & Wealdstone. Trains were operated by the

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

(LNWR). The station was located on the south side of the junction of Gordon Avenue and Old Church Lane (the section north of the junction was originally named Station Road), and was noted for its architectural style, designed to resemble a village church, including a short spire. It closed to passenger traffic in 1952.

History

In 1882 the entrepreneur and hotelier Frederick Gordon purchased

Bentley Priory Bentley Priory is an eighteenth to nineteenth century stately home and deer park in Stanmore on the northern edge of the Greater London area in the London Borough of Harrow. It was originally a medieval priory or cell of Canons Regular, Augus ...

, a large

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

near Stanmore. He planned to open it up as a country retreat for wealthy guests. Known as "The Napoleon of the Hotel World", Gordon was a successful international businessman, and had earned his millions through his international hotel chain. At the time, Stanmore was a remote, rural location, and Gordon built his own railway line from Harrow in an attempt to attract affluent clientele to his country hotel. He negotiated a contract with the LNWR, the railway company that owned the mainline at Harrow, to operate the Stanmore line on his behalf. Gordon's scheme met with some local opposition and he was forced to re-route the railway line further east to mitigate objections. The site for a terminus was selected in Old Church Lane in Stanmore. To allay the concerns of the local inhabitants — and to appeal to his well-heeled customers — Gordon commissioned an architect to design an elegant station building that resembled a Gothic-style English country church. The Stanmore branch line opened to great fanfare on 18 December 1890. The connection to the main line at Harrow & Wealdstone station faced away from London preventing through trains operating without a reversal; the passenger service was thus operated as a shuttle from Harrow and Wealdstone to Stanmore, normally run as a

push–pull train Push–pull is a configuration for locomotive-hauled trains, allowing them to be driven from either end of the train, whether having a locomotive at each end or not. A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via ...

Decline

The opening in 1932 by the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

of its own Stanmore station about to the north-east (later served by the

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partly ...

and now by the

Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some secti ...

), introduced a rapid, direct service to the West End and the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. This presented strong competition to the Village station, now operated by the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

(LMS). An intermediate station on the LMS branch line was constructed at Belmont in order to attract more passengers, opening on 12 September 1932. Stanmore station was renamed Stanmore Village on 25 September 1950 in order to distinguish it from the nearby Underground station. Declining receipts led to the passenger service being withdrawn on 15 September 1952, but a shuttle service continued between Belmont and Harrow. The London Transport 158 bus route provided alternative services. A daily freight train continued using the line beyond Belmont.

Closure

In 1963 the entire Stanmore branch line was marked for closure as part of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

. On 6 July 1964 the goods line from Belmont to Stanmore was shut; by then the

run-round loop A headshunt (or escape track in the United States) is a short length of track provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines. Terminal headshunt A 'terminal headshunt' is a short l ...

had been removed so goods wagons were propelled from Harrow and Wealdstone station. The last passenger train on the remaining section ran from Belmont to Harrow on 5 October 1964. The railway tracks were taken up in 1966 and the remaining trackbed was purchased by

Harrow Council Harrow London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. It is currently controlled by the Conservative Pa ...

. Sections of the former line were sold off and built upon, but most of the line was left to grow wild. The Stanmore Village platform buildings were demolished in the 1970s for the construction of a road of new houses, September Way, which was built along part of the track alignment. Despite its architectural merit, Stanmore Village station was allowed to fall into ruin. Attempts were made to preserve the building, but it suffered from neglect and vandalism. In 1969 it was redeveloped by a property developer, who removed most of the Gothic architectural features and converted it into a residential property, which still stands today on Gordon Avenue. A plaque mounted on the wall of the house indicates the site of the station.

Architecture

Stanmore was an affluent and conservative community, and Great Stanmore Parish Council stipulated that Frederick Gordon's new station building should be of a high-quality design that would blend in with its surroundings. The station was built in a

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, deliberately design to resemble a small English church complete with a square tower topped with a spire and decorated with

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

s, a large clock on top of a

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

ed Gothic

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

, and an ecclesiastical-style entrance door. The station had a single platform covered by a cast-iron and glass canopy. The supporting pillars bore the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of the Gordon family: three boars' heads surrounded by thistles and roses.

Filming location

Stanmore Village station was used as a

filming location A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew wil ...

for several productions including ''

The Gold Express ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (1955), which starred Vernon Gray and

Ivy St. Helier Ivy Janet Aitchison (1886, Saint Helier, Jersey – 8 November 1971, London, England) better known as Ivy St. Helier was a British theatre, stage actress, composer and lyrics, lyricist. Stage On the stage, St. Helier played Manon la Crevette in ...

, and a BBC television play, ''The Sun and I'' (1955).

Gallery

File:Stanmore branch line map.jpg, Map of the Stanmore branch line Stanmore Village station.png, Stanmore Village station shown on a 1938 map Image:Stanmore Village Station 1.jpg, The station building in 1957, the clock and entrance porch removed File:Stanmore- Former Stanmore Village railway station (geograph 2502769).jpg, The old station building as it appears today

References

External links

Disused stations – Stanmore Village
{{Disused railway stations of London Disused railway stations in the London Borough of Harrow Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Harrow Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1890 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1952 Former London and North Western Railway stations Stanmore Gothic Revival architecture in London