Building record 6124/1/12 - Desborough Railway Station (London, Midland and Scottish Railway)

Former railway station, built in 1857 by Charles Henry Driver for the Midland Railway. Closed in 1968.

{1} The station to the south side of the line survives as a structure and has been converted into a domestic residence. The building to the north of the line is no longer in existence. A cattle shed and goods sheds are located to the south of the line. All are now demolished.

{2} Opened in 1857 on the Leicester - Bedford extension to the Midland Railway. The station buildings are of local ironstone with Norman style decorated windows framed in polychrome brick. The gables have decorated bargeboards but the finials are missing. The station closed to passengers in 1968 and is now converted to a dwelling. The former goods shed 200 yards to the east is brick built with covered loading bay integral with roof structure but in a dilapidated state

{3} One of the key factors to be considered in the assessment of railway buildings is the period in which they were built. The origin of the railway lay in the Georgian period, but the railway system’s development was one of the greatest achievements of the Victorians. Its history falls into four distinct phases: the pioneering phase from 1825-41, the second phase or 'heroic age' from 1841-50, the third phase from the 1850s-1870s which saw the consolidation of the network, and the fourth phase from the 1870s to 1914 which saw the completion of the network. While greater significance is attached to first-generation railway buildings, increasingly rigorous selection is required for buildings constructed after about 1860; this reflects both the quantity of what remains and the standardisation of buildings and structures erected along different lines. Architectural and design quality, intactness, group value and rarity of survivals by railway company will also be important factors.
The former Desborough Railway Station was built as part of the Leicester to Hitchin Line in 1857 and thus falls into one of the later phases of railway development; the consolidation of the network. It is an attractive and well-designed building constructed of local ironstone with some fine detailing including decorative pierced barge-boards, and distinctive round-headed windows with hoodmoulds. It was designed by Charles Henry Driver as one of twelve similar stations on the railway line. Driver is an important railway architect with more than ten listed buildings to his name. Among them are London Bridge Station, Leatherhead Station (Surrey), Wellingborough Station, the former Rushton Station (both Northamptonshire) and the former Southill Station (Bedfordshire).
In common with several of Driver’s stations on the Leicester to Hitchin line, Desborough Station has undergone significant alteration since it was built, resulting in the loss of original fabric. The west end has been partially rebuilt and roughly patched in red brick, the gentleman’s toilet has been demolished, the cross-wing has been re-roofed in pan-tile, two of the chimneys have been truncated, roof lights inserted, roof finials removed, steel I-beams inserted under the ridge-and-furrow roof, and the main doorway and fanlight have been replaced together with many of the windows or window openings. Internally it has survived with a greater degree of intactness, although some modern partition walls have been inserted and some original fixtures removed. Altogether, the accumulation of changes to the building has fundamentally affected its architectural integrity. The loss of several of the original lozenge-glazed windows has been particularly detrimental. These are one of the most distinctive features of Driver’s designs for railway stations, goods sheds, platform shelters and outbuildings, and became a hallmark of the Midland Railway house style on this part of the rail network. Better examples of this type of station survive on the Leicester to Hitchin line and are already represented on the List, namely Rushton Station and Southill Station.
The original context of Desborough Station has also suffered from alteration and demolition. The completeness of a railway complex can be important, as different components lend group value to each other and show how the complex functioned overall. However the platforms, platform shelters, goods shed, engine shed, cattle pens, and footbridge have all been demolished at Desborough. This reduces the significance of the former station as the only building to survive of the ensemble.
In summary, the former Desborough Railway Station is clearly of local interest as it served the local for many years, and it makes a positive contribution to Desborough’s streetscape, but given the level of alteration, loss of original fabric and historic context, it does not meet the criteria for listing in a national context.
CONCLUSION
After examining all the records and other relevant information and having carefully considered the architectural and historic interest of this case, the criteria for listing are not fulfilled.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
The former Desborough Railway Station is not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons:
* Intactness: the former station has undergone a high level of alteration and loss of original fabric, including the re-roofing of the cross-wing in pan-tile and the replacement of doorways and windows;
* Architectural interest: the removal of many of the original lozenge-glazed windows, a distinctive hallmark of the Midland Railway house style on this line, has adversely affected its architectural character;
* Group value: the station has lost its original context as the platforms, platform shelters, goods shed, engine shed, cattle pens, and footbridge have all been demolished.
History
Desborough Railway Station was built as part of the Midland Railway’s Leicester to Hitchin Line, which opened in 1857. The Midland Railway had been formed in 1844 by the merging of three railway companies which met at Derby: the North Midland Railway, the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway. In 1853-57 the Leicester to Hitchin Line was added and in 1862 the Midland Railway was extended to London. The surveys for the Leicester to Hitchin Line were carried out by the engineer Charles Liddell (c.1813-1894). The line ran south from Leicester via Kettering and Wellingborough to Bedford before swinging cross-country via Southill to Hitchin. It incorporated three quite demanding gradients at Kibworth, Desborough and Sharnbrook, and a number of major bridges. Stations along the line were designed by Charles Henry Driver (1832-1900), including Kettering and Wellingborough (both listed at Grade II), which helped establish him as a railway architect. He went on to design many other stations in England and abroad, such as the celebrated ‘Station of Light’ in Sao Paulo (1897-1900). Driver was also an expert on the ornamental use of ironwork, and was commissioned to design the aquarium and orangery at The Crystal Palace, Sydenham, London, as well as Westminster Embankment, and several seaside piers.
A distinctive simplified Gothic style was adopted for Driver’s stations on the Leicester to Hitchin Line, the details of which were illustrated in Henry Laxton’s Examples of Building Construction (1858). The station buildings were largely built to a T-plan comprising a two-storey stationmaster’s house with end gables and a single storey booking hall and office, and adjoining ridge-and-furrow roofed shelter flanking the platform.
Each station was constructed using local materials, lending variety in appearance across the line.
Desborough Station is first shown on the 1886 OS map with the common design described above except for a small service range at the west. The railway line was situated to the north and there were platforms on each side of the track. Immediately east of the station was a small gabled brick building constructed in the same style; probably an engine shed. Across the track to the north there was an ironstone quarry serviced by a tramway. By 1900 cattle pens and a goods shed had been erected to the east, and by 1926 a timber footbridge spanned the track. Historic photographs show gas lamps and benches along the platforms and a small, three-bay, shelter with a ridge-and-furrow roof opposite the main range. The station was later called Desborough and Rothwell Station. It closed in 1968. The platforms and nearby railway buildings were demolished, and the station range was converted into a dwelling, now known as ‘The Old Station House’. The building has undergone several alterations, including: demolition of the gentleman’s toilet and partial rebuilding of the west end in the later C20; re-roofing of the cross-wing in pan-tile; truncation of two chimneys; loss of the decorative roof finials; insertion of steel I-beams under the ridge-and-furrow roof, and replacement of many of the windows, including insertion of some PVC windows during 2014 renovation works.
Details
Former railway station, built in 1857 to the design of Charles Henry Driver for the Midland Railway.
MATERIALS: Constructed of coarsed and squared ironstone with limestone quoins, red and blue brick dressings, timber barge-boards and slate and pan-tile roof coverings.
PLAN: A two-storey gabled cross-wing (former stationmaster’s house) at the centre; a long single-storey gabled range (former booking hall, booking office and ladies waiting room) at the east with enclosed platform waiting room with ridge-and-furrow roof attached to the north; and a small single-storey service range at the west.
EXTERIOR: The former station building has gable-ends with decorative pierced timber barge-boards; the eaves have dentils of red brick on a band of blue brick. There are slate or pan-tile covered roofs and red brick chimney stacks with oversailing courses. The fenestration comprises distinctive round-headed windows fixed in timber frames with lozenge glazing or sashes, or PVC windows. Many have hoodmoulds, with banded red-and-blue brick reveals, which finish in decorative corbelled label-stops. Most of the windows are arranged in pairs, so that the hoodmoulds merge to a moulded mullion between. The cills rest on decorative corbels, matching those to the windows. The doorways have pointed-arch lintels with the same hoodmoulds and similar banded reveals.
The main façade comprises ten bays facing south. At the west is a single-storey service range with three bays of square-headed windows including one timber casement and two PVC windows. The first two bays have a flat felt-covered roof with a brick parapet whilst the third bay has a shallow-pitched slate roof and red brick chimney stack. The fourth bay is a gabled entrance porch set at 45 degrees in the angle between the service range and cross-wing. It contains a PVC door and triangular fanlight, with modern opaque glass and the date ‘1857’, under a pointed-arch lintel with red-and-blue brick reveals and a corbelled hoodmould. Above it is a brick parapet with a stone coping, supported on projecting stone corbels. The two-storey cross-wing, which originally formed the stationmaster’s house, has a small square casement window and then paired round-headed one-over-one sashes to the ground and first floors. On the right there is the single-storey range that accommodated the booking hall etc. It originally had four bays of paired
round-headed windows containing lozenge glazing. However the two central bays have been altered to form square-headed openings; the second bay with timber-boarded shutters and the third with three-over-two casements. This range has a pitched slate roof with moulded ridge tiles, a roof light to each side, and an off-centre chimney. The east elevation is blind except for the enclosed platform waiting room, attached to the north, which contains a small PVC casement and a timber-boarded doorway with a glazed upper panel. Affixed to the wall is a lantern, moved from its original location on the south front. In the cross-wing is a single round-headed sash dormer with a timber finial, and two tall red-brick chimney stacks rising above a steeply pitched pan-tiled roof. The chimneys are corbelled-out at mid-height and top, between which is a vertical recess. The first four bays of the north elevation, facing the railway line, originally formed the platform waiting room. It has a ridge-and-furrow slate roof. The first and second (easternmost) bays have paired round-headed openings containing PVC windows; the third bay, which contained a pointed-arched entrance onto the platform, has been bricked up to contain a four-light PVC window; whilst the fourth bay has a single round-headed window with lozenge glazing. On the right is the two-storey cross-wing with paired round-headed openings to ground and first floors, both containing PVC windows. Beyond it is the three bays of the single-storey service range, containing a blocked round-headed opening between two square PVC windows. The west elevation has a four-light PVC casement at left and brick-buttress at centre; the gable above is built of red-brick, and the cross-wing is blank except for a single round-headed sash.
INTERIOR: From west to east. First the former service range of two rooms, one with a beamed ceiling and bressumer fireplace. Next the cross-wing of the former station master’s house. On the ground floor is: an entrance porch and hall with decorative tiled floor; a pantry; a bedroom with bressumer fireplace; and a large dining room that has a moulded ceiling cornice with decorative leaf ornament continuing onto a central beam supported by consoles, and a fireplace that is missing its original surround but retains two consoles. The first floor is approached by a dog-leg staircase with turned newel-posts and stick balusters. It has three rooms, including a bedroom with a fireplace that has a simple surround with a shield inscribed ‘M.R 1857.’ in the centre, and a cast-iron grate. It matches one at Oakley Station. Next the single-storey range that contained the booking hall, booking office and ladies waiting room. The booking hall retains original wainscot, a fireplace with simple surround, and an open truss roof of iron beams and chamfered timber rafters. There are double doors to the former platform waiting room at the north, which has a flagstone floor. At the east is the booking office, which retains the original ticket hatch and a cast-iron firebox to chimney, and the ladies
waiting room with wainscot. There are four-panelled doors largely throughout; several in moulded doorframes and some under pointed-arches.
Selected Sources: Biddle, G, Victorian Stations, (1973), 83-85; Laxton, H, Examples of Building Construction, (1858);
1886 1:2500 Ordnance Survey Map; 1900 1:2500 Ordnance Survey Map; 1926 1:2500 Ordnance Survey Map; Alan Baxter & Associates, Midland Main Line Statement of History and Significance, 2013; English Heritage Archive, Desborough Station Historic Photographs, Ref: BF017259.

<1> Ballinger, J, 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Desborough (Industrial), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100502.

<2> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 2001, NIAG Industrial Gazetteer, (unchecked) (Draft). SNN101121.

<3> Historic England, 2015, Former Desborough Railway Station, Northamptonshire, (part checked) (Designation Advice Report). SNN109991.

<4> Historic England, Desborough Railway Station, RO/17259/002 (Archive). SNN115410.

Record last edited

Sep 1 2023 10:27AM