Monument record 408/1 - Great Central Railway (London Extension to Annesley?)

Railway built 1898-9. Closed 1966-69. Largely dismantled.

{1} Barby Parish Map of 1840 by C.Dably predates the building of the railway.

{2} At Brackley the Great Central Railway route is no longer in operation. Earthwork embankments survive.

{5} The Great Central Railway (Bletchley to Banbury) opened through Brackley parish in 1899 and was closed in 1966.

{6} An excavation at Brackley confirmed that the cutting for the railway is in line with the 1950s map.

{10} Trial excavation recorded former structures relating to Charwelton Station prior to development, including a signal box, a freight building and the platform edges.

{11-15} The Great Central Railway Company (formed 1897) created a main railway route from Sheffield through Nottingham and Leicester to London. The main portion or London Extension was constructed in 1898-99 from Annesley [SK 518 540], (junction with a previously constructed route to Woodhouse Junction) extending via Nottingham, Leicester and Rugby to a junction with the existing Metropolitan Railway at Quainton Road [SP 738 189]. Great Central joint ownership of the Metropolitan Railway via Aylesbury and Rickmansworth ensured a route into London where a new Great Central Railway terminus was built at Marylebone. A two-mile long double track was laid from Canfield Place to Marylebone.
An alternative route was provided jointly with the Great Western Railway in 1905 from Grendon Underwood Junction [SP 709 220] via Princes Risborough, High Wycombe and Northolt junction to Marylebone.
Passenger services were withdrawn between Sheffield (Woodhouse Junction) - Annesley Junction - Nottingham (Victoria) and between Rugby Central - Quainton Road - Aylesbury on the 5th September 1966. Nottingham Victoria was closed on 4th September 1967 when Rugby Central local services terminated at Notttingham (Arkwright Street). The services between Rugby Central and Arkwright Street were withdrawn on 5th May 1969.
Most of the route has been dismantled except for sections:

Ruddington MOD Depot [SK 566 335] to Loughborough - spur to Midland main line opened 1974 [SK 547 202]. The section between Hotchley Hill [SK 553 280] and Ruddington has been closed since 1984 but the track still remains.

Loughborough Central [SK 544 193] to Belgrave and Birstall [SK 588 084] is preserved by the Main Line Steam Trust.

Calvert Brickworks [SP 681 255] to Quainton Road [SP 738 189].

Walker C., 2013, Archaeological desk-based heritage assessment of land at Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN109927.

<1> Chapman, A., 1997, Archaeological Evaluation of Lane at Onley, Barby Stage 1: Desk-based Assessment and Field Surveys, (checked) (Report). SNN44229.

<2> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, p.80 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100499.

<3> Cotswold Archaeology Ltd, 2006, Brackley Sawmills: Environmental Report, (checked) (Report). SNN105704.

<4> 1920, Railway Clearing House pre-1923 Junction Diagrams, (unchecked) (Plan). SNN106338.

<5> Chapman P., 2010, A Desk-Based Assessment of Land at Brackley Grange, Brackley, Northamptonshire, p.6 (checked) (Report). SNN107020.

<6> Wolframm-Murray, Y., 2011, Trial trench evaluation at Brackley Sawmills, Brackley, Northamptonshire, p.12 (checked) (Report). SNN108129.

<7> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 1996-2013, Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group Newsletter, Issue 117 p.7 (unchecked) (Newsletter). SNN55360.

<8> Gordan P. (Editor), 1999, Politics And Society: The Journals of Lady Knightley of Fawsley 1885 to 1913, (unchecked) (Book). SNN100002.

<9> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, (unchecked) (Report). SNN106655.

<10> Soden I, 2018, Archaeological recording on Catesby Tunnel and other Great Central Railway features at Charwelton, Northamptonshire, 2018 (Report). SNN111370.

<11> Leleux, R, 1976, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: The East Midlands (Book). SNN110373.

<12> DOW G., 1959-1965, The Great Central (Uncertain). SNN60593.

<13> Hurst, G, 1992, Register of Closed Railways 1948-1991, 31, 38, 47 (Book). SNN113968.

<14> Baker, S K, 1978, Rail Atlas of Britain, 31, 38, 47 (Book). SNN113967.

<15> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Linear File, [LIN 157] in NMRC (Notes). SNN112996.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 7:55PM