Building    From 1836  To 1915

Spa Road Station

Categories: Transport

A terminus of the London and Greenwich Railway, London's first railway. The original station was badly located and had a very narrow platform. Passengers were supposed to queue on the steps outside, but actually waited on the track itself! When London Bridge station opened, usage of the old station declined and it closed in 1838. The viaduct on which it had stood was eventually widened and with increased public demand, a new station opened in 1842. In 1867 it was relocated further along the viaduct. It was closed as a wartime security measure, and never re-opened.

By the 1860s the construction of railways in London was extensive. One of Anthony Trollope’s characters is “… having to meet a synod of contractors, surveyors, and engineers, to discuss which of the remaining thoroughfares of London should not be knocked down by the coming of the railways…” (‘The Claverings’, 1866-7).

Southwark News has a post about the station's history.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Spa Road Station

Commemorated ati

Spa Road Station - Priter Road

{Circular plaque:} {Circular plaque, around a drawing of the viaduct and St J...

Read More

Spa Road Station - Spa Road

The web page given on the plaque plots 900 British transport heritage sites o...

Read More

Other Subjects

St Saviour’s Dock

St Saviour’s Dock

Our picture source, HSomerville provides a thorough history of this area and says "St Saviour's Dock was created in the 13th century by the Cluniac monks of Bermondsey Abbey."

Place, Commerce, Transport

1 memorial
White Horse Cellars at Hatchett's Hotel

White Horse Cellars at Hatchett's Hotel

This building is still at 66-68 Piccadilly, on the north-east of the junction with Dover Street.  Architect: Weatherley and Jones. From British History (written in 1878, just 10 years before Selby...

Building, Commerce, Food & Drink, Transport

1 memorial
Red Cross Street

Red Cross Street

Used to run from the Beech Street / Golden Lane junction, where there was a red cross, due south to St Giles Cripplegate at Fore Street.   Londonist have found a map that shows the Barbican overlai...

Place, Transport

1 memorial
Finchley Toll Gate

Finchley Toll Gate

Our picture is taken from an old map showing London toll gates (black circles), but strangely, nothing appears in Finchley.

Place, Transport

1 memorial