Harrogate - Church Fenton Line

Starting Point - Pannel Station. Finishing Point - Church Fenton Station. Distance - 21 Miles 

Google Maps

This route was one of several in the area closed during the Beeching cuts of the 1960s despite serving some sizeable towns, in this case Wetherby and Tadcaster. More about the history of the line can be read on the Wikipedia article. Much of the route from the outskirts of Harrogate to Tadcaster is now a cycle route. With the distance a bit much for a walk and with many stretches on nearby roads rather than the trackbed I did this route on bike.

The route left the surviving Harrogate to Leeds line east of Crimple Viaduct between Hornbeam Park and Pannal. That surviving Leeds line goes around a tight curve and the site of the junction can be seen from passing trains. In winter when the vegetation is thin Prospect Tunnel that it entered just after the junction can be seen (also worth looking out for in the winter months is the former line to the original Harrogate Brunswick station on the other side of the viaduct and just beyond Hornbeam Park station). That tunnel is on private land, to pick the route up I took a train to Pannal station and cycled on Follifoot Road / Pannal Road. Just before it meets John Metcalf Way a footpath goes off to the south east following the trackbed.

1909 Map  1890 Map

Open Street Map this shows the footpath on the trackbed (dotted red line) which isn't shown on the Google Map.

This only follows the trackbed for a short distance before popping out on to Haggs Road which can be followed in to Spofforth. The old maps show that the railway passed under the road in a cutting, this is now filled and there is no sign of the bridge.

1890 Map

Worth a look in Spofforth is Spofforth Castle. Converted from an existing manor house in the 14th Century by Henry de Percy. It was ruined in the Civil War. More can be read about the castle on the Wikipedia article.

Behind the castle a railway bridge can be seen, the trackbed is still in private hands at this point. The trackbed has also been redeveloped through the village, not surprisingly Station Court occupies the former station site. The route can be re-joined on the southern edge of the village on East Park Road where the Wetherby Railway Path cycle route commences.

Below - Railway bridge behind Spofforth Castle.

Below - Spofforth Castle.

1893 Map (1)  1893 Map (2) 1934 Map (3)

The next stop after Spofforth was Wetherby. Here a triangular junction connected the Harrogate - Church Fenton route to the also closed line to Crossgates. The station was on the south side of the triangle where services from Leeds to Harrogate and north through Ripon and Northallerton could call.

Below - The site of Wetherby West Junction. The curve from the Harrogate direction came in on the right and the curve towards Church Fenton is behind me on the left.

Below - The site of Wetherby station today. On the right the access from the bridge can be seen.

Below - Continuing beyond Wetherby station the bridge carrying Linton Road can be seen. There are proposals to convert the Wetherby - Leeds route to a cycle route.

Below - Returning to the Church Fenton route, here is the site of Wetherby West Junction seen from the direction of the station. Harrogate was on the left and Church Fenton on the right. The pointed rock in the centre is known as the Devil's Toenail.

From the site of Wetherby East Junction a little detour is along the roads is necessary as subsequent property development has encroached on the railway.

Wetherby originally had a station close to Wetherby East Junction, this closed in 1902 following the opening of the station on the south side of the triangular junction. The goods yard remained in use until 1964 and the goods shed survives as a music venue called The Engine Shed.

East of here Freeman's Way has been built on the trackbed, at the end of this road the cycle route on the former trackbed resumes.

1909 Map

Leaving Wetherby the racecourse can be seen on the left. A station was built here and some wooden fencing that probably relates to the old station can be seen in the trees at the side of the trackbed.

1909 Map

Below - Approaching Thorpe Arch a bridge and stone lined cutting can be seen.

Below - A glimpse of the goods shed at Thorpe Arch from the trackbed. The former station and goods shed are now a private residence.

1909 Map 

The path diverts on to one of the roads through Thorpe Arch Estate, an industrial estate build on the former Royal Ordnance Factory site that once had it's own railway system connected to the line we are following (sadly the latest Old Ordnance survey map available was the one above when the site was still "nowt but fields"). This was for a time the end of the cycle route, it can now be re-joined where Street 1 meets Avenue E as the path now continues over the viaduct across the River Wharfe up to where it meets the A659 at Toulston.

Below - Viaduct over the River Wharfe.

1909 Map

Where the path meets the A659 was once a level crossing, some rubble was evident at the site of the signal box. On the opposite side of the road was Newton Kyme Station. The station building survives as a private house. The building is largely obscured from view of the road by a large hedge. The trackbed is on private land beyond the A659 so some more on-road cycling is necessary, following the A659 in to Tadcaster. Some of the bridges on the former railway survive so it is worth popping off along the side roads to check out the surviving bridges. At the time of writing one of these was on Highway England's controversial list of bridges scheduled for in-filling.

1893 Map

On the left hand side of the A659 before it reaches Station Road in Tadcaster a path goes off, this follows an old railway line that went off to the north and crossed the River Wharfe on another viaduct.

Below - Viaduct over the River Wharfe at Tadcaster.

The maps show this serving a Corn mill on the river but ending there, yet it is clearly a substantial double track viaduct to have simply served a siding. It was intended to build a line from Tadcaster to York but this was never completed.

1909 Map

Tadcaster is noted for its breweries, particularly those of John Smith's and Sam Smith's, it is worth taking a look at the old brewery buildings whilst passing through the town.

Below - The John Smith brewery.

Below - The Sam Smith brewery.

The former station site is now redeveloped and between here and Church Fenton only a couple of fragments of the old railway can be seen. Leaving Tadcaster the back gardens of Stutton Road seem to have extended on to the trackbed. From Hawthorne Avenue a path follows the trackbed under the A64 (though in a modern subway) to reach Church Lane in Stutton. Stutton once had a railway station and this is also now a private residence. Stutton station was quite short lived, closing to passengers in 1905.

1893 Map

Open Street Map (this shows the footpaths in the Stutton area)

South of Stutton on Green Lane another bridge is in situ and another short stretch of footpath on the trackbed can be found.

Below - Railway bridge on Green Lane, Stutton.

There is quite a road detour here to reach Church Fenton, even the roads don't seem to go the right way.

The bridge that carried the A169 / London Road over the railway (shown on the above map as Towton Bridge) has been filled in but the stone wall of the bridge can be seen at the west side of the road. Much of the route east of here has been ploughed in to the fields, though it can be seen on the Google satellite images. Unfortunately to get to Church Fenton means heading away from the railway, east to Ulleskelf (there is a railway station here but with limited services) and then south to Church Fenton.

1908 Map (1)  1908 Map (2)

At Church Fenton station the former platform face where trains on the line we have followed departed is still there, however a fence runs along that platform edge and the trackbed is used for road access to the mainline for maintenance vehicles. The opposite side of what was once an island platform is now Platform 1 and is used by York bound trains from the Leeds direction.

 

18" Military Railway on the Ouse in York

Starting Point - Lendal Bridge, Yorks. Finish Point - Millenium Bridge, York. Distance 1.25 Miles

This is a short walk along the River Ouse as it passes through York. I particularly wanted to visit the remnants of a narrow gauge military railway that took supplies from boats on the river in to an Ordnance Depot, though with a city with as much history as York there were a few interesting sights along the way.

Current Google map

1909 Map

An obvious place to start is the city walls. York has an excellent set of city walls, although they got pierced by the coming of the railways and the improvements of roads in the Victorian age, the controversy of those acts lead to increasing support for the preservation of the walls. Much of the walls are walkable, details can be found here.

At what was once the north east edge of the city there are a couple of towers alongside Lendal Bridge, these are Lendal Tower and the North Street Postern Tower. A chain could be raised across the river at this point to prevent boats entering the city.

The above old map shows a dotted line where the Roman walls were lost to medieval development, it also shows the likely spot for the Roman bridge. Roman York (Eboracum) would have followed a grid pattern with Stonegate and Petergate following the course of the principle roads through the city today, hence the likely position of the bridge. The mish mash of other roads seen on the maps being from the much more un-planed developments of the Viking and medieval ages.

1936 Map

Below - This view of Queen's Staith is a reminder of the industrial use of the river through the city. The map above shows how the bank of the river was once lined with warehouses. 

Below - At the junction of the River Ouse and the River Foss an information board provides details of some of the sights along the rivers through York.

At the junction of the Foss and the Ouse a lifting bridge took the riverside footpath over the Foss. Shown on the above map as the Blue Bridge.

Below - The Blue Bridge today.

Where the rivers meet there were once a couple of canons from the Crimean war serving as a memorial, though these were sadly scrapped in the World War 2 scrap metal drive.

Below - Just up the River Foss from the Blue Bridge is the Foss Barrage. The River Ouse is notorious for flooding through York and this barrier prevents flood waters back filling the Foss and flooding properties around it.

Below - The former Castle Mills Wharf at the foot of York Castle. The Foss continued to be navigable beyond this point, notably serving York's confectionery industry.

Below - Returning to the Ouse and the 18th Century Pickering Well. Claimed to have been a natural remedy for eye conditions. Behind the iron railings the well can be seen and the green water probably doesn't have many health benefits these days.

Reaching the site of the Ordnance depot, the original walls of the complex can be seen. The bricked up entrance from the riverside staith now blends in well with the original wall. A narrow gauge (18 inch gauge line) ran in to the site and to the riverside where there was a run round loop and a crane. Looking at the maps there doesn't seem to be a headshunt off the run round loop. The wagons were probably moved around by hand or possibly by horse so the loop would have been for re-ordering the wagons to get them to closer to the crane rather than running an engine round. It looks as though a wagon turntable may have been used rather than a point at the far end of the loop. Though the river bank has been rebuilt and the crane has gone the tracks remain. In 2020 the local papers made a story of the tracks reappearing after flooding, though the stories were exaggerated, the line wasn't long lost as suggested. The Ouse regularly floods and the tracks have been covered with silt and reappeared at intervals over the years.

This page by Andrew Grantham gives an account of the tracks in 2003.

Below - bricked up entrance to the former ordnance depot.

Below - Plaque on the wall describing the railway.

Below - Point and surviving end of the loop on the river front. In the background the Millennium Bridge can be seen, giving the option of returning via Rowntree Park.

Below - The former riverfront staith where a crane would have transferred supplies from the "Powder Boat" on to narrow gauge wagons to be taken in to the depot. A passing loop is also shown on the map halfway along the line within the depot. Two other stretches of line within the depot can be seen on the map, as these aren't connected they may have been used for moving materials within the site or may have been for rail mounted cranes. The staith is now occupied by the Two Hoots Ice Cream Boat.

In the Ordnance Depot site itself many of the original buildings survive in industrial and retail use, there are no further traces of the railway lines. Perhaps one day if some of the car parking spaces are dug up other remnants might reappear? 

 

Hull's Humber Dock and Victoria Dock

Starting Point - Railway Street / Wellington Street, Hull. Finishing Point - Eastern end of Victoria Dock site. Distance 2 Miles.

Continuing my walk along the docks along the River Humber in Hull from my visit to Riverside Quay and Albert Dock I headed East to explore the site of Humber Dock and Railway Dock (now Hull's Marina) and Victoria Dock.

Google Maps modern satellite view

1910 Map

Below - The entrance to Albert Dock seen from what was once Island Wharf, it was an island because of the Albert Channel which linked Albert Dock to Humber Dock's Basin, allowing boats to move between the docks without having to go out on to the tidal Humber. The channel is filled in now and modern offices have been built on the site but the site of the channel is marked in the paving.

Humber Dock, Prince's Dock and Queen's Dock formed a ring around the west of Hull's Old Town with the River Hull along the east. These three docks were built where Hull's walls and a ditch had once stood. Queen's Dock was the first, originally just called "The Dock" and later the "Old Dock" when other docks had been built. Though it relieved the congested River Hull, shipping still had to access it via the busy river and earlier proposals were to build a canal along the town wall ditch to access the dock directly off the Humber. With increasing traffic additional docks were built along the course of the proposed canal. Humber Dock opened in 1809, followed in 1829 by Prince's Dock which was originally called Junction Dock as it completed the link between the Rivers Humber and Hull. More can be read about the history of the dock on the Wikipedia article.

1910 Map

Below the lock office at the entrance to the dock from Humber Dock Basin with the swing bridge that carried the railway lines and other traffic across the lock.

Though the dock has not been used for shipping goods since 1968 it was converted for use as Hull's Marina. The old maps show railway lines along the dock fronts and as these were set in to the roads they were not removed when the dock closed to goods traffic. Many of the tracks are still in situ. Some pieces of the railway infrastructure were refurbished in the run up to Hull's 2017 UK City of Culture, including a number of the wagon turntables.

Below - The tracks that fanned out to the warehouses from the bridge across the lock around Wellington Street can still be seen today.

Below - Tracks and wagon turntables along Railway Street.

Hull's first railway station was Manor House station and was situated on Railway Street, on the right in the above photo. This station was very short lived, it opened in 1840 with the arrival of the Hull and Selby Railway but closed in 1848 with the opening of Hull Paragon station. Having only had one arrival and one departure platform it had quickly become inadequate, particularly once the route to Bridlington and Scarborough had been added in 1847. More information about Manor House station can be read in the Wikipedia article.

Below - Illustration of Hull's Manor House station from Wikipedia.

Once closed as a railway station it remained in use as a goods shed. This 1856 map shows the railway buildings in their original form with the former passenger station between the two goods sheds. In 1858 these buildings were replaced with the large goods shed shown in the later maps.

Below - Railway turntable that once connected to a line along Kingston street and the bridge over the entrance to Railway Dock.

Below - Kingston Street and one of the old warehouses between Kingston Street and Railway Dock. Railway Dock was opened in 1846 and as the name suggests was built to connect with the Hull & Selby Railway's goods shed along the south side of Kingston Street

Below - The track along Kingston Street where it curved in to the warehouse buildings as shown on the above 1910 map. The walls are remains of the later railway goods sheds built on the site. Further along Kingston street further rails that once entered warehouses on the side of Railway Dock can also be seen.

Below - The swing bridge that carried the railway tracks and other dock traffic across the entrance to Railway Dock.

Below - A look along Railway Dock.

On the north side of Humber Dock was once the lock that connected it to Prince's Dock, passing under Castle Street on the Mytongate swing bridge and the warehouses lining the north side of Humber Dock and the south side of Prince's Dock. Now these have all been swept away by the A63, now the key transport corridor to Hull's later docks situated to the east of the city. The busy road is something of a psychological barrier between the city centre shopping area (including Prince's Quay on the former dock) and the leisure facilities around the Marina and at the time of my visit the area between the two docks was a building site for a new pedestrian bridge.

Below - Usually situated on the north of the Marina but moved for the pedestrian bridge construction work, the Spurn Lightship that once protected the Humber shipping from the moving sandbanks at the mouth of the estuary.

Below - Along Humber Dock Street an old steam winding engine has been preserved in a glass case, this was from a slipway on Victoria Dock and I'll come to the winding house at Victoria Dock later on this walk.

Below - More old dockside railways and some of the surviving buildings of the various shipping merchants based along the docks on Humber Dock Street.

From the former Humber Dock it is a short walk to the former Victoria Dock, crossing the River Hull on the footbridge to The Deep. The 1910 map above shows the Victoria Dock site as being the site of a Citadel. Hull's earliest walls provided a ring around the west of the town with the river itself protecting the town to the east. By 1543 a castle and sections of wall were built on the east bank of the river, a century or so later this needed extensive rebuilding and a new Citadel was built. This was no longer in military use by 1848 and was demolished in 1864 to make way for the dock. A small fragment of the citadel remains, one of the watch towers which has been reconstructed close to the original site now next to the roundabout on South Bridge Road and Plimsoll Way. When the citadel was demolished the watchtower survived by being incorporated on a commercial building. It later ended up in East Park as part of the Khyber Pass attraction before being returned to its former site as part of the Victoria Dock redevelopment.

Across the other side of the roundabout is a building known as the Winding House, this was at the end of the "patent slip" on the old map and used to haul boats out of the water, this area of the dock site being used largely for ship repair work. The engine from this building is now preserved at the Marina site as mentioned previously. 

Below - The old Winding House (with some modern steel and glass additions.)

Below - The Winding House seen from the slip side.

The main part of Victoria Dock was filled in and much of it is now a parkland known as Victoria Park. Perhaps the developers were worried that the filled in dock might settle as happened with some of the St Andrew's Quay development on St Andrew's Dock? Sadly there is nothing to see of the main dock, however the Half Tide and Outer Basins survive, with the modern housing developments around them. The Outer Basin is largely silted up now, a problem the docks along the Humber and the River Hull itself regularly faced. Looking at how large these basins are, appearing to be large docks themselves, it gives an idea of the former extent of Victoria Dock.

Below - Half Tide Basin.

Below - The Swing Bridge between Victoria Dock and the Half Tide Basin survives, complete with former railway lines.

Aside from the above surviving remnants of Victoria Dock it has mostly been redeveloped with modern housing. Looking at the Google Maps satellite views in the link at the top of the page reveals the stump of the connection off the River Hull.

Below - The former entrance to Victoria Dock from the River Hull, seen from the west bank of the river near Drypool Bridge.

Also still visible from the satellite views are the stumps of the tidal docks of Earle's Shipbuilding yard to the east of the site. At the time of my visit there was some coastal defence work going on an many of the river front paths were fenced off so I didn't get to see these. 

There are several information panels around the former dock site interpreting not only the surviving features but the sites of many of the lost features of the dock site.

Having mentioned Hull's first railway station at the Humber Dock site earlier it seems fitting to mention Victoria Dock Station. This was situated on the south side of Headon Road just north of the dock and served the Victoria Dock branch that ran to Hull Paragon and the line to Withernsea (featured in my coverage of the Hull to Withernsea railway), though only for a very short time before Withernsea services carried on to Hull Paragon. The station continued to be used as a goods shed known as Drypool Goods Station. Some buildings from the station survived until the 1980s, though the area is now occupied by modern industrial units.

East of here the path along the docklands continued until it was moved inland in recent years to make way for Siemens wind turbine factory. I did walk that part of Hulls docklands in the early 1990s and will probably dig out my old photos some time.