Thursday, June 13, 2024

The London Necropolis Railway's station at Waterloo is for sale


The London Necropolis Railway carried the deceased and their mourners from Waterloo to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.

Its original station at Waterloo was demolished when the number of lines into the mainline station was increased. The second station opened in 1900 and operated until it was damaged by wartime bombinig in 1941.

Its platforms and railway sidings were demolished long ago, but the company's headquarters o the site remain, and this is the building you can bid for.

The company also had two stations at Brookwood - one for Church of England customers and one for Nonconformists. According to Wikipedia, they have had an interesting afterlife:
The site of North station has significantly changed. The ornate mausoleum of Sharif Al-Hussein Ben Ali (d. 1998) stands directly opposite the remains of the platform. The operators of the Shia Islamic section have planted Leylandii along its boundary, which includes the platform of North station. Unless the trees are removed, the remains of the station will ultimately become hidden and destroyed by overgrowth. 
The land surrounding the site of South station and the station's two Anglican chapels was redundant following the closure of the railway. As part of the London Necropolis Act 1956 the LNC obtained parliamentary consent to convert the disused original Anglican chapel into a crematorium, using the newer chapel for funeral services and the station building for coffin storage and as a refreshment room for those attending cremations. Suffering cash flow problems and distracted by a succession of hostile takeover bids, the LNC management never proceeded with the scheme and the buildings fell into disuse. The station building was demolished after being damaged by a fire in 1972, although the platform remained intact.

Since 1982 the site of South station has been owned by the St. Edward Brotherhood, and forms part of a Russian Orthodox monastery. The original Anglican chapel is used as a visitor's centre and living quarters for the monastery, while the larger Anglican chapel built in 1908–09 immediately north of the station is now the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Edward the Martyr, and houses the relics and shrine of Edward the Martyr, king of England from 975 to 978 AD. The site of the former station buildings is now the main monastery building, while the platform itself remains intact and now marks the boundary of the monastic enclosure.
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1 comment:

  1. There is a well-imagined novel by Andrew Martin called "The Necropolis Railway" which is set during its Edwardian heyday.

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