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Staveton Halt, former station between Trowbridge and Melksham

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2014-03-25 12:30:57 - Graham Ellis

Trowbridge - the county town of Wiltshire - has spread north and now incorporates Staverton village. The Kennet and Avon Canal, the River Avon and the TransWilts railway line from Westbury and Trowbridge to Chippenham and Swindon all pass from west to east through the village. And Staverton Halt on the railway line was opened here in 1906 (see here) but alas closed (along with Holt Junction, Melksham and Lacock) in 1966. Although the buildings were demolished, the structure of a platform remains to this day and with recent undergrowth clearance you can see the platform once again.



A path still leads down from the road to the station site, though these days you would need heavy boots to go down there - and the permission of Network Rail too, as it's on private railway property.



Old Staverton, and the Cereal Partners UK factory and other offices, a pub, a stables and more are situated between the railway and the river to its north. To its south, the housing of the Trowbridge / Staverton sprawl runs right up to the railway.



Although it's a busy spot, I'm sure that most people just pass by this gate without realising that there used to be a station down there!



Will Staverton station ever re-open? I don't know - but of all the close stations between Trowbridge and Chippenham (Staverton, Holt, Broughton Gifford, Beanacre and Lacock) it has perhaps the best chance. It's several miles from either Trowbridge or Bradford-on-Avon station, it's on the edge of an urban area, and re-opening it might help solve some very real pollution problems if traffic transferred from Bradford-on-Avon. However, it's on a different line to Bradford-on-Avon, and some transport and infrastucture work would be needed on the road (i.e. non-railway) side to allow access; I wouldn't expect to see anything happen here for a very long time.