Our history

1846 to 1859

At the height of ‘railway mania’ in 1846 the Shropshire Union Railway & Canal Co was proposed as a 48 mile long Shrewsbury to Worcester line including a 594 yard tunnel under Bridgnorth’s high town.

During public meetings for its inhabitants, Thomas Charlton Whitmore of Apley Park Bridgnorth objected to the route, insisting that the railway should be out of view from his estate. The consequential cost of additional tunnels made the project unviable.

Over the years various other proposals failed until in 1852 the Severn Valley Railway Company was created to steer plans for a revised route running north-west to Shrewsbury with branches serving the mineral district. The Severn Valley Railway Act of 1853 authorised the company to raise £600,000 in 30,000 shares of £20 each, borrow a further £200,000 if necessary, and to construct a double track line.

Almost immediately there were problems in raising capital and alterations to the route were needed to reduce the cost and The Severn Valley Railway Act 1854 proposed economies followed by The Severn Valley Railway Act 1855 which approved the economies and allowed five years for completion of the works.

Over four months ‘influential inhabitants of Bridgnorth’ requested that the station in Bridgnorth be moved from Low Town to High Town, and The Severn Valley Railway Plans & Sections of Proposed Deviations in November 1855 shows this, heading due north-west through Oldbury parish and a 500 yard tunnel beneath High Town subsequently curving east to join the original line, just beyond the bridge previously planned to cross the river north of the town.

A town hall public meeting in March 1856 failed to cause enough share sales so further deviations were needed by The Severn Valley Railway Act 1856 plus a further two years for land purchase. During 1857 the SVR board prepared two bills, one for the abandonment of the project, the other for an extension of time to complete it.

At a shareholder meeting in February 1858, with the financial crisis subsiding, Severn Valley Railway Company decided to prepare two-thirds of the route for single track, and the rest for double track but laying single. The contractors Peto Brassey & Betts would build the whole line in return for £240,000 as part-payment in shares. The capital was reduced to £480,000, with powers to borrow £160,000, totalling £530,000 so £13,000 a mile, and the abandonment bill was withdrawn.

The Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway OWWR agreed to run and maintain the Severn Valley Railway line for five years.

On 1 June 1858 the first sod was turned at Coney Green in Bridgnorth, and the Severn Valley Railway Act 1858 finally received royal assent on 23 July 1858. Arrangements were made with the various landowners along the line, and works proceeded at Stourport, Arley and Highley. Several large bridges, and the viaduct between Hartlebury and Stourport were started. The line was expected to open in 18 months. Double line had been planned, but the board decided to defer double track laying until traffic warranted it.

During 1859 bridges and viaducts were built for double track but tunnels were single track. All the land between Bridgnorth and Hartlebury had been arranged, other than T C Whitmore’s at Chelmarsh. A landslip at Highley caused a deviation to the route. Work began on the shaft in the High Street, and on the tunnel. The foundation stone was laid on November for Victoria Bridge, and the shaft was filled in and tunnel headings completed.

While contractors had said May Day 1861 for opening, continuous rain caused several landslips and delays. The West Midlands Railway Act 1860 authorised the amalgamation of two other railway companies with the OWWR. As part of a deal with T C Whitmore, Linley Station was built on the opposite bank to Apley Hall, and at least two passenger trains a day in each direction were required to stop there on request.

The weekly Bridgnorth Journal on 27 July 1861 proclaimed ‘New and Handsome Bridgnorth Station completed’: The new and handsome station at the southern termination of the tunnel is now all but complete. It is a chaste piece of building of fine freestone, and in itself may be considered an additional ornament to the town. It occupies moreover a position which cannot fail to gratify the traveller along this interesting route, by affording him a glimpse of the town from a point at which its most significant features may be seen at a glance. It is a position at which the two divisions of the town come into view; the Low Torn, as it is called, lying peacefully in the valley by the Severn side, and the High Town dotting the terraced sides and crowning the bold impending rocks that give it in the eyes of travellers, such an eastern aspect.

The official opening ceremony was on 31 January 1862 and followed by it opening to the public on 1 February. On 2 February 1862 the Bridgnorth Journal reported thus: ‘Yesterday morning the train left Worcester at half past eleven, and contained a number of the directors of the Great Western and West Midlands Railways. The works on the line are of the most solid and substantial description – the permanent way being mostly comprised in a single line of rails, but with double earthworks. The Severn Junction at Coalbrookdale and the London & North-Western at Coalport are the heart of an extensive Shropshire mineral district. Worcester has hitherto been supplied with iron and coal from this district by means of uncertain navigation of the Severn, but the opening of the railway will no doubt greatly increase that traffic. The line, which skirts the banks of the Severn throughout, only crosses that river at one point namely at Upper Arley. The bridge here, in an engineering point of view, is the greatest undertaking along the line. It has a span of 200 feet and a rise of 20 feet from its spring to its crown. It is the largest cast-iron arch in the kingdom and there are land arches of 30 feet span on either side of it. The long arch consists of four ribs or arches, each being case in segments seven tons each, and tested at a pressure of 72 tons. The other most noticeable works on the line are what is called in engineering language an S tunnel – the only one in the kingdom – which is excavated underneath the town of Bridgnorth, through red-sandstone, and a viaduct of five arches which stretches across a deep and precipitous ravine known locally as the Mill in the Hole (now Daniels Mill). There are very handsome station houses at Bewdley, Bridgnorth and Coalport. Bands of music paraded the town streets, the bells pealed from the steeples of St Leonard’s and St Mary’s, flags and banners waved from numerous buildings and business was suspended during an interval in the afternoon to allow shop staff to see the arrival of the first train at Bridgnorth. On its return from Shrewsbury the platform and all the approaches to the station were crowded with spectators and Castle Hill was lined with thousands of sightseers who cheered as it came into view.

 In 1863 the West Midland and the Great Western railway companies amalgamated. An SVR director proposed the construction of a line from Kidderminster to Bewdley. T C Whitmore had some fine trees felled on his estate, to have a better view of the railway. He died aged 58 in 1865.

Town Footbridge

The Town Council in September 1869 agreed to offer half payment of an embankment and bridge, from the station entrance door to the centre of New Road, as a benefit to townsfolk of both high and low town. By July 1870 nothing had yet happened, but the council minutes record that arrangements with the railway directors were to be held shortly.

The Bridgnorth Journal printed a ‘letter to the town clerk’ in February 1894: “The present ordinary route from the railway station to the upper town of Bridgnorth is an exceedingly undesirable one and includes the climbing of a hill (Railway Street, then called New Town) 16 yards long with an average gradient of 1 in 7, nearly a third of which is 1 in 5. The present driving route from the station to the lower town is also very circuitous and undesirable. The council of this borough are therefore considering plans for erecting either a footbridge or a bridge driveway from a point in front of the station to a point in New Road, with a gradient of 1 in 11, and afterwards practically level at the way into town, the resulting distance being 30 yards less than the present nearest route. The station is in the parish of Oldbury.’

The Journal printed in January 1895 that Great Western Railway directors have agreed to contribute £95 towards the cost of a footbridge from the station across to New Road – this being the estimated cost of construction of the western abutment on the GWR’s embankment. The footbridge was built by Alfred Owen & Partners, costing £1,400. Bridgnorth Council undertook to inspect and maintain it, sharing the costs of repair and paint with GWR. Following the closure of the railway in 1963 the footbridge was allowed to deteriorate.