Introduction

The railway station at Henstridge was a simple wayside station in the county of Somerset, on the southern part of the original main line of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR) from Bath to Wimborne. That part of the S&DJR was constructed originally by the Dorset Central Railway (DCR), which was opened on 1-November-1860 as a single-track line from Wimborne to Blandford. In 1862 the DCR merged with the Somerset Central Railway (SCR) to become the Somerset and Dorset Railway (S&DR) and in 1863 the former DCR line was extended northwards from Blandford to meet with an eastwards extension of the SCR. The SDR in turn became the S&DJR in 1875 when the line was leased jointly by the Midland Railway (MR) and London & South Western Railway (L&SWR). After the Grouping of the railways of Great Britain in 1923 the S&DJR became a Joint line under the control of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) and the Southern Railway (SR), who were the successors to the MR and L&SWR respectively. When the railways of Great Britain were nationalised in 1948 as British Railways (BR) the Joint line south of Evercreech Junction came under the control of BR Southern Region (BR(SR)), but in 1963 the line southwards through Henstridge passed to the control of BR Western Region (BR(WR)) and remained as such until the S&DJR closed to passenger traffic on 6-March-1966.

---

The Station

Most reference sources about the S&DJR state that the northwards extension of the DCR from Blandford to Templecombe was opened formally on 31-August-1863, but it would appear that the official Inspection by the Board of Trade (BoT) did not take place until 7th September that year and JH Lucking [3] wrote that public services did not begin until 10th September. The village of Henstridge lies about 2¼ miles south-east of Templecombe, just south of the junction of the current A30 and A357 roads; the S&DJR ran just east of the A357 road on a fairly straight and level alignment from Templecombe Junction through Henstridge station to the next station southwards at Stalbridge. Henstridge station itself was located at 38 miles 27 chains from Bath Junction and is reputed to have been the smallest station on the S&DJR's 'main line' from Bath to Wimborne, the platform being only 150' long.

Very little is known about the original station, but according to Robin Atthill [1] in 1862 the Directors of the DCR required "...a wooden lodge and platform and a short siding..." and map evidence from the 1880s would suggest that is all that was provided. Over the years it would appear to have changed very little, being just a single platform on the Up (west) side of the line with a single siding on the Up side of the line immediately north of the platform. This siding was accessed by a point facing to Up trains and the 'trap road' at the exit from the south end of the siding lead to a short spur. A single-storey wooden building on the platform provided the basic passenger facilities. A road known as Blackmoor Lane provided access from the A357 and crossed the railway by a small level-crossing at the south end of the platform to continue eastwards as Plott Lane. (The level-crossing appears to have been listed variously as 'Henstridge', 'Plott Lane' or even 'Blackmoor Lane' in different records.) The actual access road into the station yard continued past the siding and northwards to the A30, which crossed the railway over Bridge 159. Click here to see the 1901 Ordnance Survey map.

There was a house for the 'Station Agent' (ie the Stationmaster) just behind the station next to Blackmoor Lane and S&DJR Officers' Minute 1031 of 4-October-1878 recorded a recommendation for it to be enlarged at an estimated cost of £80, but the nature of the work and whether or not it was done is not known; certainly at a later meeting on 22-July-1907 (Minute 6022) there was a recommendation to add a further bedroom at an estimated cost of £85. It would appear that the standard of accommodation remained very basic, as a Stationmaster from the 1940s stated that the house had no gas, baths were taken in a shed with a boiler and a tin bath, and the furniture was riddled with woodworm!

To be completed...

---

Signalling

Very little is known about the early signalling arrangements on the DCR, but click here for more general details about early S&DJR signalling and here for more detailed information about signalling at S&DJR level-crossings. According to the late CR Clinker, S&DJR Signal Instruction (SI) No 21 (of which no original copy is known) stated '...all disc & crossbar signals to be replaced by semaphores...' at Henstridge on 12-May-1879. Given that the S&DR were installing semaphore signals elsewhere in 1874, then it would seem likely that any disc-and-crossbar (D&C) signals at Henstridge had existed probably for some years, perhaps even from 1863, but sadly there is no information available as to how many D&C signals had existed there.

From at least 1864 onwards the single-line block sections of the S&DR were worked purely by 'block telegraph' without any form of physical 'train staff' (click here for more details on S&DJR Block Working) and it was quite simple to provide block instruments at intermediate locations which could be switched 'in' or 'out' as required. Minute 383 of the S&DJR Officers meeting on 8-November-1876 recorded "....Annett's facing point lock-key to be supplied to siding points at Henstridge. Signal box to be erected. To be a day and night post. Estimated cost £60...". Given the decision to make Henstridge a 'day and night post' it is unclear whether it had been a block post already, but certainly it became one in due course as S&DJR Working Timetable (WTT) Appendix No 7 (dated 1-March-1886) states in respect of Block Telegraph Working at Henstridge (as well as at Midford, Masbury and Edington) that:-

"These stations, after having accepted the 'Is Line Clear' or 'Train Entering Section' signals for an Up or Down train, as the case may be, must not accept any signal whatever for a train to come in the opposite direction, unless the signals first given have been cancelled in accordance with clause 9 of the Block Telegraph Regulations."

It also listed the station as telegraph post code 'H' on telegraph circuit No 2 (Wimborne Local); it was open from 5:40am until the last passenger train on week-days and from 3:00pm to 4:00pm on Sundays. However by the time of the 1905 WTT Appendix the hours had changed to a 7:25am start on weekdays, but with no Sunday duty, and the station was on telegraph circuits No 2 and No 7.

S&DJR Officers Minute 3417 for 30-December-1886 records that Electric Train Tablet (ETT) working was introduced between Evercreech and Wimborne on 4th November that year (using the Tyer's No 1 pattern instruments), at which time Henstridge ceased to be a block-post and became simply an intermediate ground-frame (GF) within a new Templecombe No 2 Junction - Stalbridge ETT section. As Henstridge no longer had advance warning of approaching trains, in due course it became the responsibility of the signalman at Stalbridge to send a special bell-code to Henstridge to advise when Up or Down trains were entering the single-line block section between Templecombe No 2 Junction and Stalbridge; click here to see the full details from WTT Appendix No 9 (dated 1-February-1889). By the time of the 1905 WTT Appendix the instructions had been augmented to require Henstridge to send codes to Stalbridge to advise when stopping Down trains had left Henstridge (click here for more details). This arrangement would have required a dedicated bell circuit between Henstridge and Stalbridge, which was marked as 'R.B.C.' (Return Bell Communication) on the 1956 signal diagram for Henstridge.

The 1902 signal diagram is the earliest known diagram for Henstridge and shows an arrangement which remained virtually unchanged until the British Railways era. The lever-frame was mounted back-to-track and installed inside the station building, a practice not known to have occurred anywhere else on the S&DJR; one unidentified source records it as a 'low frame' with levers at 5-inch centres, which could suggest a frame of Saxby & Farmer design, but this can not be proven in the absence of any interior photographs. Although in later years the Southern Railway sometimes closed signal-boxes and moved their lever-frames and instruments into station buildings as an economy measure, it is clear from the date of the diagram that if there had been once a discrete signal-box somewhere at Henstridge then it must have been abolished no later than 1902. Given the inclusion of two ground signals in the installation, numbered in a sequence which suggests that they were an original feature rather than a later addition, then one may speculate that the installation was no earlier than the mid-1890s and may even have been new in 1902. Although the diagram shows four gates at the level-crossing, photographic evidence confirms that only two gates were provided, worked by hand on the ground.

[Note: the lever-frame in the 'Station' GF at Bason Bridge was also described as a 5" 'low frame'. It is a matter of speculation whether there might be any similarity between that GF and Henstridge in terms of their dates of installation.)

Originally the two ground signals were of the 'drop flap' type and in accordance with contemporary practice worked only for movements into/out of the sidings when points 7 were reversed. However on 7-March-1929 (SI 291) both ground signals were replaced by miniature-arm semaphore versions with 'yellow' arms and in addition signal 8 was moved to the opposite side of the siding (ie between the siding and the main line), in which form they can be seen in photographs from the BR period. Whilst signal 8 was a typical candidate for replacement as a 'yellow arm' signal, signal 5 is the only example known on the S&DJR where a 'facing shunt' on a running line was converted to the 'yellow arm' form. It is probable, but not proven, that this was done to ensure that Up trains proceeding on the authority of the Up Home (2) no longer had to pass shunt 3 showing a red stop indication and avoided the expense of having to alter the interlocking to enable it to be worked as a 'running shunt' instead. A 1930 copy of the signal diagram shows that, although the location of signal 8 had been altered, neither signal had been re-drawn with the contemporary 'miniature semaphore' symbol but instead the letter 'Y' had been superimposed on the face of the existing 'disc' symbols - again, not something seen on any other S&DJR signal diagram.

There is very little known photographic record of the main running signals at Henstridge. An old undated sepia-type photograph shows part of the post of the Up Home (2), which had a lattice post with a sighting board down the front, and at that time it would have had a lower-quadrant (LQ) arm. Another undated photograph (possibly from the 1920s) has a distant view of the front of the Down Home (2), which at that time also had a LQ arm on what appears to be a wooden post. According to SI 317 both of the Distant signals were renewed in September 1931; on 3rd September the Up Distant (1) was replaced by a new signal 12' high and 26 yards further out towards Stalbridge, at a location 800 yards from the Up Home, then on 8th September the Down Distant was replaced by a new signal 20' high and 151 yards further out towards Templecombe Junction, at a location 900 yards from the Down Home. Sadly there are no known photographs of either Distant signal, although one may speculate that by that date both would have had upper-quadrant (UQ) arms. An unrecorded source states that the Down Home was renewed on 2-July-1944, which one may presume was a result of the accident earlier that year (see below), but what temporary arrangement might have existed during the intervening four months? In the early BR era it would appear that the Up Home still had a LQ arm on a lattice post, whereas the 1952 photograph shown in the Introduction above confirms that the Down Home had an UQ arm on a lattice post.

From 1952 onwards the signalling installation underwent extensive rationalisation. According to the S&D 'Weekly Notice' for the period 14th-20th June 1952, on Sunday 15th June that year both the Up and Down Home signals and also both shunt signals were abolished. A new set of Lever Description Plates (LDP) had been ordered on 5-March-1952 in readiness for this change and it is clear from the order details that the Distant signals and Gate Lock remained in use at that time. However by the time of the 1956 signal diagram both Distant signals had been abolished and replaced by white marker lights (apparently on the same posts) and the level-crossing gates were no longer locked by the GF. Although the exact date for those changes is not known a new set of 'blank' LDPs had been ordered for levers 1,6 and 10 on 11-May-1955, so it is possible that the work took place later in that year. Thereafter the GF worked only the siding points (7) and associated FPL (5); photographic evidence would suggest that the level-crossing gates were simply chained and padlocked across the road, presumably being worked by station staff when required to be opened for any road traffic. Finally on 6-July-1965 the Up Siding and its connection to the main line were taken out-of-use and the GF was recovered (BR(SR) Weekly Notice P/EW24-1965), but a contemporary 'office copy' of the signal diagram was annotated that the marker lights were retained for the gates.

As late as the 1960s a S&DJR oval lineman's board still hung on the front of the GF room and thanks to the late Robin Atthill (with the assistance of the Stationmaster at Stalbridge) it survives in the National Railway Museum collection (inventory reference 1975-7887 shown here).

---

1944 Accident

During World War II there was a large military presence in the area, especially during the build-up to D-Day in 1944. One day in March 1944 a military vehicle (reported as a lorry towing a trailer loaded with a crane) was travelling along the A30 when, for some unrecorded reason, it crashed through the parapet of Bridge 159 and landed on top of a Down troop train passing underneath. The double-headed train was derailed, several people were injured and at least one passenger subsequently died. A station porter, named variously as Peter Jackson or William 'Peter' Jackson, had the misfortune to be up the ladder of the Down Home at the time changing the signal lamp when flying wreckage from the accident snapped the bottom of the signal post. According to a fellow railwayman (a Passenger Guard called Albert 'Dicky' Bird), Jackson dropped the lamp and 'clung to the metal post' as it fell into an adjacent field, escaping relatively unscathed.

The date of the accident is recorded variously as 13th or 14th of March; it is possible that it took place on the 13th, but the main clear-up activity was done on the 14th. Although the accident was reported in a number of local newspapers, no detailed Inquiry or Accident Report appears to be on record. It is possible that this was because the accident was clearly not caused by any fault on the part of the railway and/or because of the fact that it occurred during war-time and military personnel were involved. However a detailed article about this accident written by a local historian is archived here and contains much interesting information, whilst Albert Bird described his recollections in Issue 140 of the 'Bulletin' of the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust. Given the suggestion above that the Down Home may have been a wooden post originally, then Bird's reference to a 'metal post', if correct, does raise the question of when that post was replaced by a metal one.

To be completed...

---

Postscript...

On 6-March-1966 passenger services ceased on the whole of the S&DJR. Although a few sections did remain open for goods traffic for a few more years, the whole of the former DCR north of Blandford was closed completely and of course that included Henstridge. Demolition work started in early 1967, working northwards from Blandford and passing through Henstridge in late July or early August that year. All the wooden buildings on the station platform were removed in 1968. Various recent photographs on the internet would suggest that all four of the concrete gate-posts still survive currently (2024) at the site of the level-crossing.

© CJL Osment 2021-24
Station photograph courtesy Peter Russell. OS map extract reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland. All other images WCRA collection.

---