Barcombe Mills is a disused railway station in the hamlet of Barcombe Mills

Barcombe Mills

Barcombe Mills is a small settlement and an area of countryside including a local nature reserve near the village of Barcombe Cross in East Sussex, England. It is located in the civil parish of Barcombe in the Lewes District. It is an important area for its wildlife, natural beauty and water storage...

, on the closed section of the Wealden Line

Wealden Line

Taking its name from its route through the chalk hills of the North and South Downs of the Weald, England, the Wealden Line is a partly abandoned double track railway line in East Sussex and Kent that connected Lewes with Tunbridge Wells, a distance of ....

. The station was opened in 1858 and closed in 1969.

History

The station opened as "Barcombe" but was renamed "Barcombe Mills" in 1885 so as to avoid confusion with Barcombe station

Barcombe railway station

Barcombe was a railway station serving the village of Barcombe in East Sussex. It was part of the East Grinstead to Lewes line, more popularly known as the Bluebell Railway.The station was originally opened as "New Barcombe" to distinguish it from the nearby station of Barcombe Mills , and was...

 on the Lewes to East Grinstead line

Bluebell Railway

The Bluebell Railway is a heritage line running for nine miles along the border between East and West Sussex, England. Steam trains are operated between and , with an intermediate station at .The railway is managed and run largely by volunteers...

. Despite its name, the station is actually situated almost a mile to the south-east of Barcombe village.

It was always a popular station for anglers who were able to fish for trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

 in the nearby River Ouse

River Ouse, Sussex

The River Ouse is a river in the counties of West and East Sussex in England.-Course:The river rises near Lower Beeding and runs eastwards into East Sussex, meandering narrowly and turning slowly southward...

. On pre-World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 bank holiday

Bank Holiday

A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...

s as many as 1000 tickets were sold in one day.

Present day

It was not until 1985, the year in which the station was purchased by Allan Slater, that preservation and conversion work on the virtually intact structure began in earnest. Many original Victorian features have been retained, including the scalloped woodwork along the rooftops and arched brickwork around the windows which bear testament to the early days of rail travel. The station was briefly used as a tea-room/restaurant called Wheeltappers, but this venture has now ended, partly to do with the fact that the owner and his staff became notorious throughout the local area for being so rude and nasty to customers. The former ticket office and ladies' waiting room serving as a restaurant and the gentlemen's washrooms as kitchen facilities. The adjoining stationmaster's small one-bedroom house has been converted into a four-bedroom family home, and the trackbed has been filled-in and landscaped. In April 2003 two chalet-style holiday cottages were opened, resulting in the demolition of the wooden down platform waiting room. The chalets were built in a rebuilt down waiting room in the original style.

The Wealden Line Campaign has lobbied strongly for the reinstatement of the line between Lewes and Uckfield, including the section through Barcombe Mills, and a feasibility study is being carried out to determine the merits of this scheme. Addressing the possibility of the return of his land to railway use, Allan Slater, still the owner of the station, has said that, "[i]f there is genuinely a need for the railway to come through here I don't think I am in a position to stand in their way."

However, as of 2011 the nearby heritage railway the Lavender Line

Lavender Line

The Lavender Line is an informal name for a heritage railway based at Isfield Station, near Uckfield in East Sussex.- History :The Lavender Line formed part of the Lewes to Uckfield Railway when it was opened on the 18 October 1858...

could "once funding would possibly begin" extend towards Barcombe Mills (extending would require building a new station opposite the old original site as it is in private residence