Holywell Junction was a

junction railway station Junction railway station was just outside the village of Crossbarry, on the Cork and Bandon Railway in County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named aft ...

located on the north-eastern edge of the town of

Holywell Holywell may refer to: England * Holywell, Bedfordshire * Holywell, Cambridgeshire * Holywell, Cornwall * Holywell, Dorset * Holywell, Eastbourne, East Sussex * Holywell, Gloucestershire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Ho-Hoo#Hol, location in ...

and village of

Greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Places Canada * Greenfield, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Greenfield, Colchester County, Nova Scotia * Greenfield, Hants County, Nova Scotia * Greenfield, Kings County, Nova Scotia * Greenfield, Q ...

, in

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

. It is sited on the

North Wales Main Line The North Wales Main Line ( or ; ), also known as the North Wales Coast Line (), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, England, running from Crewe on the West Coast Main Line to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey. The lin ...

, beside the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

of the River Dee.

History

The station was opened on 1 May 1848, as part of the

Chester and Holyhead Railway The Chester and Holyhead Railway was an early railway company conceived to improve transmission of government dispatches between London and Ireland, as well as ordinary railway objectives. Its construction was hugely expensive, chiefly due to ...

(now the

North Wales Coast Line The North Wales Main Line ( or ; ), also known as the North Wales Coast Line (), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, England, running from Crewe on the West Coast Main Line to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey. The lin ...

) and was named simply ''Holywell''. The

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

station building was designed by

Francis Thompson Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...

and built by Thomas Hughes of Liverpool. A brick-built

signal box A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

was opened in 1902 to replace an earlier wooden one. Initially, the station had two platforms but, as the line grew busier, the number of tracks doubled from to two and the number of platforms followed suit. The main station building was positioned on the ''down'' platform and a subway connected them all. In 1912, the Holywell Branch Line was opened just east of the station, which linked the main line to the centre of Holywell. The station was therefore renamed ''Holywell Junction'' on 1 May and the new station in the town centre was called ''Holywell Town''.

Accidents and incidents

On 1 September 1922, four trackworkers were run over by a passenger train and killed instantly.

Closure

The branch line lasted 42 years before being closed and Holywell Junction was closed to passengers on 14 February 1966, as part of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

, although it was open to freight until 1970.

The site today

The station building was listed Grade II* in 1970 and is now a private dwelling. The signal box was listed Grade II in 1991. Trains on the North Wales Main Line continue to pass through the station site. ''Greenfield Valley'' is a tarmacked footpath that follows the length of the former branch line to Holywell town centre.

Proposed reopening

Proposals to reopen a station in

, either on or near to the former Holywell Junction railway station site, was announced in 2019; Holywell Town Council and its Mayor supported a case to reopen the station. The proposals to reopen are largely based on that the state of the former station platforms remain highly intact. The private owner of the old station house announced that their property will not be part of any station reopening. In July 2020, the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

included a proposal for a station named ''Holywell'' in their long-term aspirations for the North Wales Coast Line. In September 2021,

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; ; ) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consisting of itself and its subsidiaries: Trans ...

released its future developments plan, with a station named ''Greenfield'' marked as proposed in their short-term section of the plan to 2029.

Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn (born 17 April 1979) is a Welsh politician who served as the Minister for Social Partnership in the Welsh Government from 2021 to 2024. She was previously the Environment Minister from 2017 to 2018 and the Deputy Minister for H ...

, MS for Delyn, welcomed the plans for a new station. In January 2022, Rob Roberts MP for Delyn, took part in an adjournment debate in the House of Commons to raise the issue with Parliamentary Under Secretary, Robert Courts.

History

Accidents and incidents

Closure

The site today

Proposed reopening

References

Further reading