Wells East Somerset railway station
Encyclopedia
Wells station in the Somerset
city of Wells was the terminus of the East Somerset Railway line from Witham
and opened when the line was extended from Shepton Mallet
in 1862.
The station was only 100 yards or so from Wells' first station, the terminus of the Somerset Central Railway branch from Glastonbury
, which had opened in 1859, and which would later be renamed as Wells (Priory Road)
. The East Somerset Railway, though nominally independent, was controlled by the Great Western Railway
.
In 1870, the Cheddar Valley line
from Yatton railway station
also reached Wells, where a third station, later to be known as Wells (Tucker Street)
was opened. This line too was controlled by the GWR and in the late 1870s a spur line was built to connect the Cheddar Valley line to the East Somerset line, passing through the Priory Road station, though trains did not stop there until 1934. This connecting line opened in 1878, at which time the original East Somerset Railway station in Wells closed, and GWR traffic was concentrated on Tucker Street.
The station building, minus its canopy, was later used as a cheese factory by a company called Marsh and Adams, but was destroyed by fire in 1929. The line through the site continued in operation until closure in 1963.
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
city of Wells was the terminus of the East Somerset Railway line from Witham
Witham (Somerset) railway station
Witham railway station was a station serving the Somerset village of Witham Friary and was located on the Frome to Yeovil section of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway that opened in 1856...
and opened when the line was extended from Shepton Mallet
Shepton Mallet (High Street) railway station
Shepton Mallet was a railway station on the East Somerset Railway, serving the town of Shepton Mallet in the English county of Somerset....
in 1862.
The station was only 100 yards or so from Wells' first station, the terminus of the Somerset Central Railway branch from Glastonbury
Glastonbury and Street railway station
Glastonbury and Street railway station was the biggest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway main line from Highbridge to Evercreech Junction until closed in 1966 under the Beeching axe...
, which had opened in 1859, and which would later be renamed as Wells (Priory Road)
Wells (Priory Road) railway station
Wells was a railway station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Wells in the county of Somerset in England. Opening on 15 March 1859 as Wells, on the Somerset Central Railway, at that time a broad-gauge line operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, it was the terminus of the branch from...
. The East Somerset Railway, though nominally independent, was controlled by the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
.
In 1870, the Cheddar Valley line
Cheddar Valley line
The Cheddar Valley line was a railway line in Somerset, England, opened in 1869 and closed in 1963. It became known as The Strawberry Line because of the volume of locally-grown strawberries that it carried....
from Yatton railway station
Yatton railway station
Yatton railway station serves the village of Yatton in North Somerset, England. It is west of Bristol Temple Meads railway station on the Bristol to Taunton Line.-History:...
also reached Wells, where a third station, later to be known as Wells (Tucker Street)
Wells (Tucker Street) railway station
Wells railway station was the second terminus station on the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line in Somerset after the extension from the first terminus at Cheddar was opened...
was opened. This line too was controlled by the GWR and in the late 1870s a spur line was built to connect the Cheddar Valley line to the East Somerset line, passing through the Priory Road station, though trains did not stop there until 1934. This connecting line opened in 1878, at which time the original East Somerset Railway station in Wells closed, and GWR traffic was concentrated on Tucker Street.
The station building, minus its canopy, was later used as a cheese factory by a company called Marsh and Adams, but was destroyed by fire in 1929. The line through the site continued in operation until closure in 1963.