| Bishopsgate | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Shoreditch |
| History | |
| Opened by | Eastern Counties Railway |
| Platforms | |
| Key dates | Opened 1 July 1840 Closed 1874 (Passengers); 1964 (Freight) |
| Replaced by | Liverpool Street/ Bishopsgate (low level) |
Coordinates: 51°31′24″N 0°04′36″W / 51.523377°N 0.076754°W Bishopsgate station (also commonly known as Bishopsgate Goods Yard) was a railway station located on Shoreditch High Street (A10) in the East End of London. It was in use from 1840 to 1964 when it was destroyed by fire. Substantial remains lay derelict until they were demolished in 2004 to make way for the new Shoreditch High Street station.
History
The station was opened as Shoreditch by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) on 1 July 1840 to serve as its new permanent terminus when the railway was extended westwards from an earlier temporary terminus in Devonshire Street, near Mile End.[1] The station was renamed Bishopsgate on 27 July 1847.
In 1862, the ECR amalgamated with a number of other East Anglian railway companies to form the Great Eastern Railway (GER). For a time the GER also used Fenchurch Street station as a London terminus but lack of capacity led the GER to build a new terminus for its services at Liverpool Street. After the opening of Liverpool Street station in 1874, Bishopsgate station was closed to passenger traffic and was converted to a goods station which opened in 1881 and became known as Bishopsgate Goods Depot. A passenger station, Bishopsgate (Low Level) was provided on the new route into Liverpool Street.
As a goods station Bishopsgate handled very large volumes of goods from the eastern ports and was arranged over three levels with turntables and hoists allowing railway wagons to be moved individually around the station for loading and unloading. Incoming goods could be stored in the warehouse on site or transferred directly to road vehicles for onward transportation to their destinations.
A fire on 5 December 1964 destroyed the station and it was closed and the upper level structures were largely demolished. Over the next thirty years much of the site became derelict. Planit Events used the site for large parties using a huge marquee structure from 1998 to 2002, and subsequently also used the Brunel arches at street level, installing a steel staircase entrance from the upper level as well as another entrance at street level. Planit Events are currently constructing a permanent venue beneath Finsbury Square.
Following an extended period of planning, the entire site was demolished in 2004, with the exception of a number of Grade II listed structures: the Ornamental Gates on Shoreditch High Street and the remaining 850 feet (260 m) of the so called "Braithwaite Viaduct", one of the oldest railway structures in the world and the second oldest in London, designed by John Braithwaite.[2] The demolition of the former station will make way for a planned station on the East London Line extension called Shoreditch High Street. This station will be part of the new London Overground network and will replace Shoreditch Underground station to the east which closed in June 2006.
References
- ^ F.H.W. Sheppard, ed (1957). Bishopsgate Railway Terminus. Survey of London. 27: Spitalfields and Mile End New Town. pp. 252–255. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50177. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
- ^ "Bishopsgate station". Subterreanea Britannica. http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/b/bishopsgate/. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
External links
- English Heritage: Delivering the Goods
- Bishopsgate Goods Station (Goodsyard) on Subterranean Britannica
- London Borough of Hackney: Bishopsgate Goods Yard Draft Interim Planning and Design Guidance
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets: Draft Interim Planning Guidance for Bishopsgate Goods Yard
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