A Railway History
The Railway talk, Itchen Stoke ChurchOn Sunday 30th April, local historian Peter Clarke gave a talk at Itchen Stoke Church on the railways which used to run along the route of the planned Watercress Way long distance footpath.
These were the Mid-Hants Railway which ran between Alton, Alresford and Winchester Junction from 1865 to 1973, and the Didcot Newbury and Southampton Railway which ran between these towns from 1885 to 1964.Peter explained that the ambition of the Mid-Hants promoters was to create a secondary mainline route between Woking and Winchester as an alternative to the London & South-Western Railway’s mainline from London via Basingstoke.
Another set of entrepreneurs promoted the DNS line in order to improve the supply of coal to Southampton Docks and to provide some competition to the London & South Western’s monopoly over railway traffic to Southampton.Neither ambition was fully realised.
The arrival of the railways was instrumental in the growth of watercress farming at both ends of the planned Watercress Way as it enabled watercress to be dispatched to markets in London and the Midlands within 24 hours of being harvested.Peter described the routes the two railways took from Alresford in the east to Winchester Junction and from Winchester Junction to Sutton Scotney in the north, illustrating his talk with historical photographs of the stations and structures along the railway lines and of the train services which operated along them.He also emphasised the role the two lines played in wartime in transporting troops and military equipment.Mike Collis, Trustee of The Watercress WayCredits for photos
- Alresford Station and Goods Yard (MHR Archive)
- Sutton Scotney Station c1920 (Winchester Museums Service)
- Passing under the mainline at Winchester Junction 1953 (SC Townroe)