Semington Halt | |
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General information | |
Location | Semington, Wiltshire England |
Platforms | 1 |
Other information | |
Status | Disused |
History | |
Original company | Great Western Railway |
Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
Key dates | |
1 October 1906 | Opened |
18 April 1966 | Closed |
Semington Halt railway station was a small railway station serving Semington in Wiltshire, England, between 1906 and 1966. The station was on the Devizes Branch Line, in between Holt Junction and Seend.
The line from Devizes to Holt Junction was opened in 1857. Semington Halt opened on 1 October 1906, north of the village on the Melksham to Westbury road, at a time when the Great Western Railway was increasing the number of railmotor-served halts in the South West. The single-platform halt was on an embankment with no vehicular access.
The line suffered from reduced traffic after the completion of the Stert and Westbury Railway that bypassed the Devizes line in order to reduce the London to Bristol distance by five miles.
The entire branch line was closed in April 1966 under the Beeching cuts and the halt was destroyed in 1970, along with the rest of the line. The site of the station is now a private residence.
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between Stephen of England and Empress Matilda, and again during the English Civil War when the Cavaliers lifted the siege at the Battle of Roundway Down and the Parliamentarian Army of the West under Sir William Waller was routed. Devizes remained under Royalist control until 1645, when Oliver Cromwell attacked and forced the Royalists to surrender. The castle was destroyed in 1648 on the orders of Parliament, and today little remains of it.
Edington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) east-northeast of Westbury. The village lies under the north slope of Salisbury Plain and the parish extends south onto the Plain. Its Grade I listed parish church was built for Edington Priory in the 14th century.
Melksham Without is a civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. It surrounds, but does not include, the town of Melksham and is the largest rural parish in Wiltshire, with a population of 7,230 and an area of 29 square kilometres. The parish includes the villages of Beanacre, Berryfield, Shaw and Whitley, and the hamlets of Outmarsh and Redstocks. It also includes the outer Melksham suburbs of Bowerhill and The Spa, and the dispersed settlement of Sandridge which includes Sandridge Common.
Great Cheverell is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Devizes. In some sources the Latinized name of Cheverell Magna is used, especially when referring to the ecclesiastical parish.
The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth. The Wessex Main Line intersects the Reading to Taunton Line at Westbury and the West of England Main Line at Salisbury.
Semington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is about 2 miles (3 km) south of Melksham and about 3 miles (5 km) northeast of Trowbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Little Marsh and Littleton.
The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) was an early railway company in south-western England. It obtained Parliamentary powers in 1845 to build a railway from near Chippenham in Wiltshire, southward to Salisbury and Weymouth in Dorset. It opened the first part of the network but found it impossible to raise further money and sold its line to the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1850.
The Devizes branch line was a railway line from Holt Junction to Patney and Chirton, in Wiltshire, England. It was named after Devizes, the largest town on the line. The branch was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1857, and from 1862 when the Reading-Hungerford line reached Devizes it became part of the shortest route from London to the West Country. Those services were re-routed in 1900, and the line closed in 1966.
Beanacre is a small village in Wiltshire, England, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Melksham on the A350 towards Chippenham. It is in the civil parish of Melksham Without. The Bristol Avon passes to the east of the village where a stream from Sandridge joins it.
The Berks and Hants Railway comprised two railway lines built simultaneously by the Great Western Railway (GWR) south and west from Reading in an attempt to keep the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) out of the area that it considered to be its territory in England.
Holt is a village and civil parish in the west of Wiltshire, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast of Bradford-on-Avon and 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Melksham.
The Stert and Westbury Railway was opened by the Great Western Railway Company in 1900 in Wiltshire, England. It shortened the distance between London Paddington station and Weymouth, and since 1906 has also formed part of the Reading to Taunton line for a shorter journey from London to Penzance.
Devizes railway station was the railway station serving Devizes in Wiltshire, England between 1857 and 1966. The station was on the Devizes branch line, between Pans Lane Halt and Bromham & Rowde.
Pans Lane Halt railway station was a railway station serving the southeast of the town of Devizes in Wiltshire, England, between 1929 and 1966. The station was on the Devizes branch line, between Devizes station and the Reading-Taunton line.
Holt Junction was a railway station which served the village of Holt, Wiltshire, England between 1861 and 1966. It stood on the Wessex Main Line at its junction with the western end of the Devizes branch.
Seend railway station was near the village of Seend in Wiltshire, England. The station was a stop on the Devizes Branch Line, between Semington and Bromham & Rowde. Its position northwest of the village was chosen to serve the iron ore quarry and iron works at Seend Cleeve.
Bromham and Rowde Halt was the railway station serving Bromham and Rowde in Wiltshire, England between 1909 and 1966. The station was a stop on the Devizes Branch Line, between Seend and Devizes.
Savernake Low Level railway station was a station on the Berks and Hants Extension Railway, near the village of Burbage in Wiltshire, England. It was open from 1862 until 1966.
Stert is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. Its nearest town is Devizes, about 2 miles (3.2 km) away to the northwest.
Manningford Halt is a former railway station which opened in 1932 in Manningford parish, Wiltshire, England on the Berks and Hants Extension Railway between Pewsey and Devizes. The halt closed in 1966 when local services were withdrawn.
Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
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Seend Line and station closed | Great Western Railway Devizes Branch Line | Holt Junction Line and station closed |