Halton railway station (Lancashire)

Halton railway station served the village of Halton in Lancashire, England. It closed in 1966, but the station building and part of one platform survive beside the cycle path along the disused line. In reference books the station is sometimes referred to as Halton (Lancs) to distinguish it from another Halton railway station in Cheshire (now also disused).

1. History

The station was opened on 17 November 1849 by the "little" North Western Railway. It was linked to Halton village by a railway-owned narrow toll bridge across the River Lune. A rebuilt version of the bridge is still in use, free of charge. The original timber station was destroyed by fire on 3 April 1907. A spark from the engine of a passing Heysham–St Pancras boat train set fire to a wagon of oil drums by the goods shed. The fire brigade were unable to cross the narrow bridge and it was left to a special trainload of railway workers from Lancaster to pass buckets of water from the river. The station was rebuilt in brick and timber and the building survives to this day, used as storage by Lancaster University Rowing Club, with a public car park occupying the former track bed. The station closed on 3 January 1966, along with the whole line between Wennington and Morecambe. Cyclists and walkers can travel along the former line in either direction. Beneath the trackbed, east of the station, can be heard running water that is extracted from the river to an underground pumping station in Quernmore Park.

1. Notes


1. References

Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M. Suggitt, G. (2003, revised 2004) Lost Railways of Lancashire, Countryside Books, Newbury, ISBN 1-85306-801-2 Vinter, J. (1990), Railway Walks: LMS, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd, Stroud, ISBN 0-86299-735-6

1. External links

"Millennium Park Cycle Route & Walk", Leeds–Lancaster–Morecambe Railway website, accessed 19 December 2008 "Disused Stations Site Record — Halton (near Lancaster)", accessed 19 December 2008

Nearby Places View Menu

Lancaster University Boat Club

Lancaster University Boat Club (LUBC) is the rowing club of Lancaster University. The club was founded in 1964 with the inception of the university by Sir Harold Parkinson and is the oldest sports club at the university. The club is based in the old Halton railway station and trains on a 3 km stretch of the River Lune, 3 miles north of Lancaster.

Landmark Maritime

Halton-with-Aughton

Halton-with-Aughton is a civil parish and electoral ward located 3 miles (5 km) east of Lancaster, England, on the north bank of the River Lune. The main settlement is the village of Halton, or Halton-on-Lune, in the west, and the parish stretches to the hamlet of Aughton in the east. It lies in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, and has a population of 2,227, down from 2,360 in 2001.

Landmark Neighbourhood

Halton Cross

The Halton Cross, also known as Sigurd's Cross, is a composite high cross in the churchyard of St Wilfrid's Church, Halton-on-Lune, Lancashire. A 19th-century reconstruction, it comprises the remaining fragment of the original 10th- or 11th-century cross together with several 8th- or 9th-century fragments found locally. All feature carvings, some abstract and some representational. The carvings on the remains of the original cross, to be seen at the base of the shaft, show scenes from the legend of Sigurd, a part of the Germanic Nibelung tradition, together with Christian symbols. It has been called "an important survival from the twilight years when Christianity and paganism battled in the minds of men", and the archaeologist B. J. N. Edwards considered it "probably the clearest representation of part of the Sigurd story outside Scandinavia".

Historic Site Landmark

St Wilfrid's Church, Halton-on-Lune

St Wilfrid's Church is an Anglican church in Halton-on-Lune, a village in the English county of Lancashire. It is an active parish church in the Diocese of Blackburn and the archdeaconry of Lancaster. Halton may have been the site of an ancient Anglo-Saxon minster. Of the current structure, the tower dates from the 16th century and the remainder was built 1876–77 by Paley and Austin. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

Church Landmark