Shrewsbury Abbey was a railway station in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

part of the

Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway The Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway was a railway running from Shrewsbury, England to Llanymynech, Wales, with a branch to Criggion. It was promoted by H. F. Stephens, Holman Fred Stephens, better known as Colonel Stephens, propriet ...

. It was named after the nearby

Shrewsbury Abbey The Abbey Church of the Holy Cross (commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey) is an ancient foundation in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The Abbey was founded in 1083 as a Benedictine monastery by the Normans, Norman Earl of Shre ...

. The station had an adjacent

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 ...

and wagon building works. Shrewsbury Abbey was originally planned to be just one station on a railway from

Llanymynech Llanymynech is a village and former civil parish straddling the Wales-England border, border between Powys, Wales, and Shropshire, England, about north of the Welsh town of Welshpool. The name is Welsh language, Welsh for "Llan (placename), L ...

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and civil parish on the banks of the River Tern in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is located between the towns of Whitchurch, Shropshire, Wh ...

but when financial problems halted the project, it became the permanent terminus. However it was never connected to Shrewsbury Station. All passenger services would have to change here. This was because access to the mainline station was rejected on financial grounds and the obstruction of Shrewsbury station's joint operators, the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

(GWR) and the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

History

Shrewsbury Abbey station opened on 13 August 1866 as the temporary end of the Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway (always known locally as 'The Potts'). It was built on part of a monastery that had been destroyed during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. In 1876 a railway carriage and wagon building works of the Midland Wagon Company operated next to the station. It closed in 1912. When the station became the permanent terminus after financial difficulties caused the abandonment of the planned extension to Market Drayton, it struggled to make money. On 22 June 1880 Shrewsbury Abbey closed for the first time when the railway could no longer continue services; a rare example of a railway closure in Britain in the 19th century. Several attempts were made to reopen the railway and in the 1890–91 a start was made on remodelling the station before financial problems again caused work to cease. The station was finally reopened on 13 April 1911 with a rebuilt line now known as the

. It finally closed to all passengers (except specials) on 6 November 1933.

Wartime role

At the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway was taken over by the War Department. Shrewsbury Abbey station reopened for military personnel in 1941. The

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

reconstructed the railway and built a top secret storage explosives depot at Kinnerley. The site was not declassified until the 1950s. The entire railway was closed by the military in 1960. Official closure was on 29 February, connection to the system being maintained by a new link to the

Severn Valley Railway The Severn Valley Railway is a standard gauge, standard-gauge heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The single-track line runs from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, calling at four intermediate stations and three request stop ...

Later use

After Shrewsbury Abbey station closed, the goods yard was occupied by an oil depot until its closure on 5 July 1988. The site is now occupied by a surface car park, and the original station building and platform built for the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire was restored in 2005–06. The building now serves as the headquarters of the Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust who open it to the public, hosting an exhibition on Shrewsbury's railway history, on certain days. In 2023, the station received a red wheel plaque from the National Transport Trust commemorating its history as a railway terminus.

References

External links

Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust (the present owners of the building)

Visitor centre website

{{Shrewsbury architecture Disused railway stations in Shropshire Buildings and structures in Shrewsbury Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1866 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1933 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1866 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1880 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1911

History

Wartime role

Later use

See also

References

External links