Waterhouses railway station (Durham)

Waterhouses
Waterhouses station, 1958
General information
Location	Esh Winning, County Durham England
Grid reference	NZ192416
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	North Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
1 November 1877	Opened
29 October 1951	Closed to passengers
28 December 1964	Closed to freight
Location

Waterhouses railway station, on the Deerness Valley Railway, south of the village of Esh Winning in County Durham, England, was opened on 1 November 1877 by the North Eastern Railway. ^[1] The station served as the passenger terminus of the line, although goods wagons continued to East Hedley Hope and Waterhouses collieries.

In 1914 Connie Lewcock, who led the local suffragettes, assisted by miner Joss Craddock, ^[2] burnt down the railway building at Esh Winning. She describes how she planned the event in an interview with the historian, Brian Harrison, recorded in 1976 as part of his Suffrage Interviews project, titled Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews. ^[3] Lewcock had designed a system that gave her an alibi for the time the building was alight. The building burnt down but the Police could not make formal charges as she had witnesses who could testify that she was with them at the time of the fire. Lewcock became a popular politician and she was appointed an OBE in the New Years Honours List in 1966. ^[2]

The station closed to passengers on 29 October 1951, and freight on 28 December 1964.

The stone and timber built station ^[1] was demolished and the site is now a park. The trackbed now forms part of the Deerness Valley Railway Path. ^[4]

v t e   Deerness Valley Railway
Overview Locale County Durham Technical Track gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Length 8 miles (13 km)
Legend
East Coast Main Line to Chester-le-Street Durham Lanchester Valley Railway to Consett Durham to Bishop Auckland Line to Bishop Auckland East Coast Main Line to Darlington Ushaw Moor New Brancepeth Colliery Ushaw Moor Colliery Hamsteels, Esh, and Cornsay collieries Waterhouses Waterhouses Colliery East Hedley Hope Colliery Stanley Inclines Stanley Drift Mines Wooley Colliery Bank Foot Coke Works/Chemical Plant Stanhope and Tyne Railway to Consett Crook West Durham Railway to Byers Green Weardale Extension Railway to Bishop Auckland

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Ushaw Moor Line and station closed		North Eastern Railway Deerness Valley Railway		Terminus

References

1. "Station Name: WATERHOUSES (Durham)". Disused Stations.
2. Pugh, M. (2005-05-26). Lewcock [née Ellis], Constance Mary [Connie] (1894–1980), suffragette and socialist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 29 November 2017, from http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-89853.
3. "The Suffrage Interviews | LSE Library (interview 84)". The London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
4. "Deerness Valley Railway Path". Long Distance Walkers Association.

External links

• Waterhouses station on navigable 1948 O. S. map

54°46′08″N1°42′12″W / 54.7688°N 1.7033°W / 54.7688; -1.7033