Mill Lane Halt 1930 Alan Payne Date
The early halt with one platform only (courtesy Box Parish Council)
There had been a continuing trend over several decades towards concentrating facilities in the centre of Box village. The coming of the railways in 1841 allowed easier transport of goods into the centre of Box, which became a depot for items like coal, imported building materials and domestic requisites. This helped to encourage the growth of specialist shops in the centre offering those goods for sale. Residents were increasingly regarding Box village as a centre for them following the opening of Box Cemetery to all denominations in 1858 and the creation of the Box Schools in 1875. Ditteridge and Box Church of England Schools were merged and the central school offered better education than the small dames schools and private education could hope to achieve, eventually attracted Dissenting children also.
The lcoation of an eastern station in Box would have altered the whole development of the area. Without it, Pictor & Sons, built their gravity-driven rail track to take stone fro Clift Quarry Works down to The Wharf, restricting property development on the south of Beech Road and delying housing at The Bassetts until 1929.
The lcoation of an eastern station in Box would have altered the whole development of the area. Without it, Pictor & Sons, built their gravity-driven rail track to take stone fro Clift Quarry Works down to The Wharf, restricting property development on the south of Beech Road and delying housing at The Bassetts until 1929.
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Above Left: The Wharf before it was developed into a nursing home (courtesy John Currant)
Above Right: Mill Lane Halt west of The Wharf (courtesy John Brooke Flashman). The old Clift Quarry tramway shows top right
Above Right: Mill Lane Halt west of The Wharf (courtesy John Brooke Flashman). The old Clift Quarry tramway shows top right
As the inter-war period unfolded, so the needs of government grew more controlling, eventually getting the country organised in the event that war might break out. This was achieved partly through the expansion of local government in the 1880s and 1890s through the parish and rural district councils. It was the creation of a new railway access point for passenger transport which, arguably, exacerbated the tendency. The railways had been nationalised during the Great War period and were only grouped into the Big Four on 1 January 1923.
Box Mill Lane Halt, 1930
The building of Mill Lane Halt Railway Station revolutionised life in Box, making it possible for daily travel to local towns for schooling, work and leisure activities. Sometimes called Woodstock Halt, it is one of the features which resound prominently in elderly residents’ memories. When Roy Hodges moved to the newly-built Bassetts houses in 1930 he was met at the Halt by the Box policeman, wondering about the intentions of the stranger. When Stanley and Mildred Brunt set off on honeymoon in 1930, they waved goodbye to family and friends at the Halt but could only afford a single stop on the line before embarking at the Box Railway Station at the Northey Arms to go further by motor cycle.
The Halt was a latecomer in village life and only had a short life, lasting just over thirty years. Residents had long been requesting a central station and a village petition was started by the residents of Box Hill and sent to the GWR in 1914 but was refused on the grounds of cost.[1] Mill Lane Halt was created in 1929-30 and opened on 31 March 1930. As the east of the village was developed for housing in the decades before the First World War, the need for a station in the centre of the village became more obvious.
The building of Mill Lane Halt Railway Station revolutionised life in Box, making it possible for daily travel to local towns for schooling, work and leisure activities. Sometimes called Woodstock Halt, it is one of the features which resound prominently in elderly residents’ memories. When Roy Hodges moved to the newly-built Bassetts houses in 1930 he was met at the Halt by the Box policeman, wondering about the intentions of the stranger. When Stanley and Mildred Brunt set off on honeymoon in 1930, they waved goodbye to family and friends at the Halt but could only afford a single stop on the line before embarking at the Box Railway Station at the Northey Arms to go further by motor cycle.
The Halt was a latecomer in village life and only had a short life, lasting just over thirty years. Residents had long been requesting a central station and a village petition was started by the residents of Box Hill and sent to the GWR in 1914 but was refused on the grounds of cost.[1] Mill Lane Halt was created in 1929-30 and opened on 31 March 1930. As the east of the village was developed for housing in the decades before the First World War, the need for a station in the centre of the village became more obvious.
Box Mill Lane was built at the same time as Bathford Halt which appears to be of similar construction and Oldfield Park Halt which being in a cutting was of a different construction. Bathford and Oldfield Park opened in 1929. All three halts appear to have had plain curved corrugated iron shelters rather than the famed GWR Pagoda style. (An example of GWR corrugated iron can be seen on the Beckford Road bridge over the railway at the east end of Sydney Gardens).[2] The original premises at Box was a single timber platform accessed from Mill Lane, which cost £800.[3] This was later replaced by two platforms made of concrete with corrugated iron shelters for passengers. The length of the site was limited by topography and the platforms could only accommodate four rail carriages, which necessitated passengers using the rear of the train. To give access to travellers, a small wooden ticket office with corrugated iron roof was built at the bottom of the steps to Mill Lane platform. The senior porter checked tickets and manned the office.
Later view of the site shows two platforms (courtesy Patty Baldwin)
Impact of the Halt
Mill Lane Halt had a major impact on the development of the village, encouraging in-fill housing on the eastern side of the village, including London Road and influencing the location of The Bassets and later Bargates, both easily accessible to the railway. Some railway men lived in these locations and used the rail service from the Halt to get to work at other stations.
For many village children, it offered easy access to train spot, take photographs and even occasionally have a ride courtesy of a benevolent train driver. Photos below from the 1950s courtesy of John Currant.
Mill Lane Halt had a major impact on the development of the village, encouraging in-fill housing on the eastern side of the village, including London Road and influencing the location of The Bassets and later Bargates, both easily accessible to the railway. Some railway men lived in these locations and used the rail service from the Halt to get to work at other stations.
For many village children, it offered easy access to train spot, take photographs and even occasionally have a ride courtesy of a benevolent train driver. Photos below from the 1950s courtesy of John Currant.
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The main impact of the Halt was on the residential estates at Rudloe and Box Hill. The downhill walk to the Halt was pleasantly comfortable to put pedestrians within easy range of the railway, saving some two miles trudge to the main station with the normal facilities at the Northey Arms. It helped to make the easterly areas the popular residential locations that they now are. We can see this when a footpath was claimed to exist in 1938 from Grove Farm: It was pointed out that the making of the Mill Lane Railway Halt had rendered the path of increased importance.[4]
Evacuee children giving a Christmas concert in the Methodist schoolroom in 1939 (courtesy Genevieve Brunt)
Perhaps the most notable event in the history of Mill Lane Halt was in the very last days of the inter-war years in September 1939 when thousands of London schoolchildren were evacuated to the West Country. The main line express train which brought them made a historic stop at Mill Lane Halt (one of the few such occasions) to allow the 96 Box evacuees to disembark directly in the village. It was a small contribution towards the planning of security for young people in the war. Pat Coles recalled going to the 1951 Festival of Britain with a group from Box Highland School, which also boarded an express train at Box Mill Lane.
Mill Lane Halt shortly before it was closed and dismantled (courtesy John Currant)
The photos above and below record the demise of Mill Lane Halt. For residents it was the end of a national era when the railways came to the centre of the village to join the area up to the rest of Britain for people of all social levels. Above are the platforms used by residents and below are the steps leading up to them from the south side near Box Rec (below left courtesy Len Shewring) and from the north side by Box Mill (below right courtesy John Currant).
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The Halt was closed in the Beeching cuts of 1964, the platforms removed and the steps dismantled. Local residents opposed the closure of Box Station for 12 months but the end came to all stations in Box in December 1964. What a tragedy!
References
[1] The Bath Chronicle, 25 July 1914
[2] Courtesy Robert Coles
[3] Colin G Maggs, The GWR Swindon to Bath Line, p. 80
[4] The Wiltshire Times, 5 January 1935
[1] The Bath Chronicle, 25 July 1914
[2] Courtesy Robert Coles
[3] Colin G Maggs, The GWR Swindon to Bath Line, p. 80
[4] The Wiltshire Times, 5 January 1935