Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • March – March Railway Station

    March – March Railway Station

    Above is the entrance to March railway station, which first opened to the public in 1847. I’m sure it made a good impression when soon after opening a hot cinder fell from a train engine and set light to numerous fields, machines and a barn. Although at least a house was saved from the fire. Initially, the railway station solely served the Ely to Peterborough route, initially an important route which connected Norwich to London before the direct service was created between those two cities.

    During the late nineteenth century, the railways were a key driver of growth to the town, with more people employed in the railway industry as a percentage of population than in towns such as Swindon. New routes opened and the town had a substantial freight yard, making the railway station a real hub.

    The two main platforms which are currently in use. To the right of these platforms are disused platforms, which form the lost link to Spalding. There are also plans to reopen the Bramley Line, which goes to Wisbech, although not much has come to fruition despite the hopes raised by numerous politicians over recent years.

    This is a good idea, a timeline of the railway’s history, clearly displayed on the wall.

    The Stamford Mercury reported in December 1904 the sad story of a lad called “Pratt”, although they don’t give his first name. He had been employed as a gateboy at the railway station gates and he jumped onto the footboard of an engine to fix a minor problem with the brakes, only to fall off and have his right foot cut off by the train and the other foot damaged. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the poor boy, the media don’t seem to have reported it.

    The railway station today is a bit of a mess, not only because of the closed off platforms. The ticket desk was shut since it was a Saturday (although quite why I’m not sure, as it’s meant to be open on Saturdays) there were queues on the platforms, the toilets were closed and the only thing open was a small coffee shop. For a railway station serving over 400,000 people a year, it’s a pretty unimpressive effort from the station operators, Greater Anglia. The Friends of March Railway Station do a marvellous job at beautifying the site, but it needs a lot more funding both in terms of new routes and station modernisation.

    Hopefully though in a few years, this is one of those railway stations which would have been transformed.

  • March – Centenary Baptist Church

    March – Centenary Baptist Church

    The town’s baptist community existed at the beginning of the eighteenth century and their first place of worship was at the house of Stephen Coward. They obtained a license for worship in 1703, with their pastor, Thomas Speechley, having a congregation of 160 by 1715.

    This centenary church was built in 1799 and was rebuilt in 1870 and 1960. The 1870 rebuilding led by John Usher cost £4,600 and it gave seating for 800 people within the church. The 1960 rebuilding was necessary due to the slight issue of the church nearly burning entirely down in 1959. Pevsner refers to the 1960 rebuilding as a “violent modernisation”, which I assume is why the building looks so disparate.

  • March – Ash Grove

    Intrigued, as ever, by the 1939 register, I picked a random street in March to see what occupations the residents had at the beginning of the Second World War.

    2 Ash Grove : Charles Hopkin (Ironmonger’s Store Manager)

    4 Ash Grove : Sarah Marriott (Unpaid Domestic Duties) – I think that this is the mother of Frank Marriott, who died in the First World War

    6 Ash Grove : Bertie John Casey (LNER Fireman) – born in 1903 and died in March in 1980

    8 Ash Grove : Flora Parsons (Unpaid Domestic Duties)

    10 Ash Grove : Alfred Nichols (Local Government Clerk and ARP Warden)

    12 Ash Grove : Edward Martin (LNER Shunter Operator)

    14 Ash Grove : Walter John Houlgrave (LNER Engine Driver) – born in 1895 and died in March in 1975

    16 Ash Grove : Sidney Culpin (LNER Lampman)

    18 Ash Grove : Charles Woodbine (LNER Goods Guard)

    That doesn’t seem untypical for the period, there are nine households and in five of them the main wage earner worked on the railways. All five of the LNER workers had different roles, some of which, such as lampman and fireman no longer exist, and I’m not sure that the goods guard role still exists either.

    I also noticed the below in the Victoria County History:

    “The sidings at Whitemoor on the Spalding line, constructed in the 1930’s, are the largest in England and among the largest in Europe, and in its industrial structure the town is more akin to Peterborough or Wellingborough than the other towns of the Isle, whose industrial interests are closely tied to the land. In 1921 a remarkably high percentage of the population (22.3 per cent. of occupied males) was engaged on the railway. Proportionately, this was three times as many as in the railway town of Swindon.”

    All of the houses are still standing, but I imagine the stories of the men and women who lived on this street have mostly been lost to history….

  • March – Rookswood Club

    March – Rookswood Club

    The Rookswood Club, formerly known as the March British Legion, is a bit of a community hub for members and there are a number of organisations who use the building such as the March model railway club. It takes its current name from the original name of the property, which was Rookswood House. Located at 27 West End, it was constructed as a residential property in either the late eighteenth century or the early nineteenth century.

  • March – Garden Improvements

    March – Garden Improvements

    This is a rather pleasant little addition to the High Street, the creation of a garden in what was previously a discarded plot. I’m not sure who is responsible for this, but I think it’s March in Bloom.

    From this….

    To this….

    Very nice.

  • March – Old Courthouse

    March – Old Courthouse

    Located at 86 High Street, March’s courthouse was built in 1875, with previous sittings having been held at the neighbouring Guildhall. There were court sittings twice a month and the magistrates also sat on the third Tuesday of each month. Internally, the original court room and staircase are still present, although the ceiling of the courtroom is now obscured. Externally, the left-hand side is where carriages once entered and the Royal Coat of Arms is still visible on the right-hand side entrance.

    There was also a police station at the rear and it was the offices of the Chief Constable for the Isle of Ely. This was due to March being the county town of the Isle of Ely for the period that this administrative division existed, from 1889 until 1965. March was chosen because of its railway connections and it was more convenient for the majority of people to get to than the other main options of Wisbech and Ely itself.

    The building is now used by ClubQ, but it seems a slight shame that it hasn’t been restored to a rather more grand use, much as I’m sure the current operators are doing a marvellous job.

  • March – March Railway Station (The Lost Link to Spalding)

    March – March Railway Station (The Lost Link to Spalding)

    There’s no access now to the platforms which once served trains en route to Spalding, the service was shut down as late as 1982 and the track was lifted. The decision was a huge error, a typical policy of not preserving the trackbed and instead building a prison on top of part of it. There are now plans to rebuild the line, although it’ll be at great expense and it will require planning decisions not to be passed which build on where the line would need to go, with a decision in late 2018 at Cowbit seeming to be detrimental to that.

    The platforms might need a little remedial work.

    But, at least the platforms and some station buildings are still there.

    Hopefully in the near future this line will be restored, with trains going down this piece of track and veering off to the right to Spalding, via Guyhirn. There’s a strong demand for freight services to use this route, but ideally passenger services could also use the line. Rail Magazine wrote “if the line had lasted just another three or four years, it would surely have made it to the present day”, something which seems accurate.

  • March – War Memorial

    March – War Memorial

    Made of Cornish granite, the town’s war memorial was unveiled in June 1921, commemorating those who had lost their lives during the Great War. The memorial cost £900 to build, the entire sum of which was raised by public subscription. The memorial reads:

    “This monument is erected in grateful memory of those men of March who, at the call of King and country, left all that was dear to them. They made the supreme sacrifice that others might live in freedom. Let those that come after see to it that they are not forgotten.”

    Present at the unveiling was Captain Colin Coote, who was at the time the MP for the Isle of Ely and he had previously been the MP for Wisbech from 1917 until 1918, when the sitting MP was killed in action. Coote was the MP for the Isle of Ely from 1918 until 1922, then he lost his seat to Norman Coates and he never returned to Parliament. He had been aged just 24 when he entered the House of Commons, but he is perhaps more known for his period as editor of the Daily Telegraph, a role he held from 1950 until 1964. He died in June 1979, at the age of 85.

    More names were added following the end of the Second World War and also more recently, when a few years ago some missing names from the First World War were added. There’s a list of the men listed on the memorial available at http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cambridgeshire/March.html. Pevsner notes that the sculpture of the soldier is “clumsy”, which seems a little direct….

  • March – Public Toilets

    March – Public Toilets

    As far as public toilets can have an architectural interest, these look quite charming in the middle of the town.

    Well, they did, until Fenland District Council mauled them about and made them chargeable. This decision was made in 2011, when a review of toilets saw the council spending £500,000 on overhauling their toilets in a bid to save £60,000 per year. I’m not entirely sure that these sums really add up, even given the £15,000 the toilets were meant to raise across the region. So it takes the best part of a decade just for the council to end up where they were financially, having caused huge inconvenience (excuse the pun) to residents and visitors over that period. Marvellous.

    Although, on the bright side, these toilets fared better than those on City Road in the town, which March Town Council closed in mid-2018. A councillor said that on one day it looked like “a herd of elephants had been through them”….

  • March – 78 to 82 High Street

    March – 78 to 82 High Street

    In the town’s heritage trail, it reads about this building at 78-82 High Street in the town:

    “Looking at this property, currently Cassano’s, it is difficult to believe that the building has such an important history. It was formerly the town’s Guildhall, built on the site of an earlier Guildhall in 1827. Later two wings were added to house the first March National School. It was also used as the town library”.

    I agree, it is indeed difficult to believe this, especially as I can’t find the property on the listed buildings register or any old photos. Puzzling…..