Crown Street Station was a passenger railway terminal station on Crown Street,

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The station was the world's first intercity passenger station, opening in 1830, also being the railway

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing su ...

for Liverpool. Used for passengers for only six years, the station was demolished as the site was converted into a goods yard. The goods yard remained in use until 1972. The location of the station is now a park with little trace of the station or goods yard.

History

The station opened on 15 September 1830 as the Liverpool passenger terminus of the

Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...

, the world's first public passenger line. This gave the station the distinction of being the world's first dedicated intercity passenger railway station as the first train ran from Liverpool. Manchester's corresponding Liverpool Road terminus station opened on the same day, being the destination of the first train from Liverpool. The architecture is attributed to George Stephenson. The station was accessed by a long single track tunnel from the deep Edge Hill Cutting to the east, sometimes known as the Cavendish Cutting. Together with the adjacent

Wapping Tunnel Wapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, is a tunnel route from the Edge Hill junction in the east of the city to the Liverpool south end docks formerly used by trains on the Liverpool-Manchester line railway. The tunnel alignm ...

, these were the first tunnels to be bored under a metropolis. Stationary steam engines, located in the cutting, operated a continuous rope system to haul wagons up inclines from Edge Hill station and up the

from Park Lane Goods Depot, earlier known as Wapping railway goods station, at Liverpool's south end docks. The Wapping Tunnel runs under the Crown Street station site. Crown Street station was too far from Liverpool city centre. Its use as a passenger station ended after only six years of use in 1836 when Lime Street Station was opened. The site of the Crown Street station was converted to a

goods yard A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...

. An additional twin track tunnel was built from the Edge Hill cutting in 1846 to improve throughput to the goods yard. The goods yard closed permanently when services through the two tunnels ended in 1972. The

along with the original Crown Street tunnel also ceased operation in 1972.

Millfield

Immediately to the south of Crown Street station was an area known as Millfield or Gray's yard. This included a large marshalling and storage area as well as a substantial works involved in the construction and maintenance of wagons and carriages.

Current use of the site

The area has been landscaped as a park with the original 1830 single track tunnel's western portal covered over. The 1846 Crown Street tunnel is now used as a headshunt for trains. Student accommodation for the nearby

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

has been built on a part of the old goods yard site. The site of the station itself is landscaped. The Wapping Tunnel's ventilation tower and a plaque commemorate the station's place in history. There are also a small number of stone sleeper blocks close to the fence on

Falkner Street Falkner Street is a street mostly in Canning, with a short section in Edge Hill, Liverpool, England. The street, built during the early-mid 19th century, is named after Edward Falkner, who had previously commissioned the construction Falkner S ...

Potential new station

The proposal for Paddington Village mentions that a station in the 2014 Liverpool City Region, (LCR) Long Term Rail Strategy would be of use, the station would be on the

. However, the Paddington Village Spatial Regeneration Framework document of October 2016, page 36, specifically gives a map with a station on the old Crown Street station site, stating the locations as Crown Street/Myrtle Street.http://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Paddington-Village-Strategic-Regeneration-Framework.pdf

Sources

* * http://www.spartacus-educational.com/RAliverpoolST.htm * http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/l/liverpool_edge_hill_cutting/index.shtml

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crown Street Railway Station Disused railway stations in Liverpool Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1830 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1836 Edge Hill, Liverpool 1830 establishments in England