Chelsea & Fulham | |
---|---|
Location | Walham Green |
Local authority | Hammersmith & Fulham |
Grid reference | TQ2588777254 |
Number of platforms | 2 |
Railway companies | |
Original company | West London Railway |
Pre-grouping | West London Railway |
Post-grouping | West London Railway |
Key dates | |
2 March 1863 | Opened as Chelsea |
25 November 1902 | Renamed Chelsea & Fulham |
21 October 1940 | Closed |
c.1950 | Demolished |
Other information | |
WGS84 | 51°28′49″N0°11′15″W / 51.480267°N 0.18749°W |
London transportportal |
Chelsea & Fulham was a railway station in Walham Green in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. It was situated between the King's Road and Fulham Road, on the present-day West London Line. The station was opened in 1863 by the West London Railway, and was closed in 1940 having sustained damage during the Blitz of World War II. [1]
Chelsea was one of the original stations on the West London Railway (WLR) and opened at the same time as the line, on 2 March 1863. The station was located in a cutting between two road bridges over Fulham Road and the King's Road, with entrances on both sides. In 1882 a new booking office and subsequently a footbridge were added at the south end of the station. It was renamed Chelsea & Fulham on 25 November 1902. [1]
The station became very popular when Chelsea Football Club came into existence in 1905 and began playing at the Stamford Bridge Athletic Ground, and portable booking offices had to be used to cope with the demand on match days, when special football trains were chartered to bring fans to the ground. In 1930 the platforms were lengthened to cope with this extra demand. [1] According to the sports history writer Tim Harris, the station was the inspiration for naming the football club; the entrepreneur and founder of the club, Gus Mears, had considered Stamford Bridge FC, Kensington FC, and London FC, but chose Chelsea FC because of its proximity to Chelsea & Fulham station and in spite of the stadium not actually being located in Chelsea proper. [2]
After a period of heavy passenger usage, it began to dwindle in popularity as competition from the new deep-level Underground railways and electric tramways took away custom by offering more direct routes into central London. With the onset of World War II, the West London Railway was badly hit in some parts by enemy action during the Blitz and the demise of the line was hastened by the wartime bombing. In 1940, London, Midland and Scottish Railway steam trains from Clapham Junction to Kensington ceased on 20 October and Willesden-Edgware Road electric services ceased on the same day. Other stations on the line such as St. Quintin Park and Wormwood Scrubs were more severely damaged than Chelsea & Fulham, and although the damage to Chelsea & Fulham was minimal, it never reopened. The station buildings remained intact after the war and were used by railway maintenance staff, although the footbridge and southbound platform building were removed. In the mid-1950s the main station building was demolished. [1]
The derelict station is described in some detail by the author James Kelso in his reminiscences of wartime Fulham, in which he refers to the H-shaped building consisting of "two wings... joined in the middle by a set-back booking hall with a canopied forecourt", the enclosure of the disused premises in corrugated iron and barbed wire after the air raids, and the passage of troop trains hauled by 2-6-0 locomotives. [3]
Today the site of the former station is occupied by a block of flats. Parts of the northbound platform riser walls and some platform nosings remain.
The West London Line continued in use mainly as a freight route until its reopening as a passenger line under British Rail. Since the revival of the line as part of the London Overground network, service frequencies on the line have increased, and although Chelsea & Fulham station was never re-opened, a new station called Imperial Wharf was opened in 2009 approximately 600 metres (2,000 ft) to the south, close to Chelsea Harbour.
Chelsea FC had proposed reopening the station to serve the stadium during Match Days but this was rejected on grounds that it would be too overcrowded on match days. [4]
The local MP, Greg Hands, suggested reopening a station at the site in 2016. [5]
Fulham is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, 3.6 miles (5.8 km) southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth, Putney, Barn Elms and the London Wetland Centre in Barnes. on the far side of the river.
Chelsea is an affluent area in West London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area.
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Stamford Bridge is a football stadium in Fulham, adjacent to the borough of Chelsea in West London. It is the home of Premier League club Chelsea. With a capacity of 40,343, it is the ninth largest venue of the 2023–24 Premier League season and the eleventh largest football stadium in England.
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Counter's Creek, ending in Chelsea Creek, the lowest part of which still exists, was a stream that flowed from Kensal Green, by North Kensington and flowed south into the River Thames on the Tideway at Sands End, Fulham. Its remaining open watercourse is the quay of Chelsea Creek.
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West Brompton is an area of west London, England, that straddles the boundary between the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The centuries-old boundary was traced by Counter's Creek, now lost beneath the West London Line railway.
South Bromley railway station was a former railway station in South Bromley, London, on the North London Railway between Bow and Poplar. It opened in 1884 but was closed in 1944 after bomb damage in the Blitz cut off the railway east of Dalston Junction.
Walham Green is the historic name of an English village, now part of inner London, in the parish of Fulham in the County of Middlesex. It was located between the hamlet of North End to the north, and Parsons Green to the south. To the east it was bounded by Counter's Creek, the historical boundary with the parish of Chelsea, and to the south-east is Sands End.
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Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
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Battersea | West London Railway | West Brompton |