Stations on the Epsom Downs Branch

Banstead, the second station on the branch, is sited on top of a long cutting (formed by the building of the railway) which at this point is some 30 feet deep.

First mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of AD 967, Benestede is recorded as a settlement in the Domesday Book from 1086, most likely taking its name from the Anglo Saxon bene ("bean") and stede, which refered to an area which was populated but had no official status as such. It was good farming land, and the gentry, church and finally crown who owned the manor in succession found it to be a very profitable feudal property before it was passed on to the Carew family by Henry VIII. A village had by then formed out of the previously scattered hamlets, but even though Banstead Downs (which for many centuries covered all the open land stretching from Epsom to Croydon and Reigate) had its spell of horse racing in the 17th century (Samuel Pepys recorded three personal visits in 1663) and the town also gained a certain reputation as a health resort for its "wholesome air", Banstead's population remained low until the late 19th century. This changed with the advent of better roads and the coming of the railway, even though the latter really didn't have that much to do with Banstead village proper.

Opened in 1865 together with the branch, Banstead station is in fact over a mile away from Banstead village (which is probably why it changed its name to Banstead & Burgh Heath in 1898 until the Southern Railway reverted this back to the original name Banstead in 1928).

The Ordnance Survey map of the area from 1888 shows the railway curving away from the village and passing through the open countryside with no housing to speak of other than a few scattered farms - true to its original purpose and intentions, namely to provide access to the Epsom Downs racecourse. There were obviously hardly any potential passengers along the line anyway, the total population in the parish of Banstead being 1,270 in 1851.

But railway lines were a driving force of change, and even though the original planners of the Banstead & Epsom Downs Railway had never strived to attract housing developments alongside their lines of track, this was precisely what happened, as the Ordnance Survey map from 1896 illustrates. Banstead village had grown only very little, but a substantial set of new houses had been built between Warren Farm and the railway line for the Kensington & Chelsea District School.

Built between 1878 and 1880 this was a residential institution serving the purpose of providing "education and apprenticing of poor children" as set out in the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, and the railway line was actively involved in the construction work.

"The first village of any size erected by the Poor Law authorities will be that at Banstead, Surrey (...) The site of this village is a long strip of ground comprising upwards of 27 acres, adjoining on one side the Epsom Downs Branch of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (...) The material for the buildings is brought on to the ground by means of a siding from the London and Brighton and South Coast Railway, temporary lines of rails being laid down through the length of the main avenue; and the trucks are unloaded wherever the material is required." (The Building News, 8 August 1879)

The first children moved to Banstead in September 1880; the site was renamed Beechholme in 1951. The school closed in 1974, and the site was redeveloped as a housing estate.

As traffic flows came, changed, and went, all three stations on the branch saw considerable changes in their track layouts over time. Plans from 1865 indicate that both Banstead and Belmont had goods yards as of the opening of the branch, but somewhat mysteriously goods trains didn't appear in the working timetables until 1872 (Kirby, 1983). The trackplan below indicates the single track (black) that has served the station since October 1982, along with track that existed around 1920 but has been lifted over time (blue).

By the end of the First World War, Banstead boasted a complex and intensely worked goods yard, along with three "chalk sidings". The landscape in the area is a rich source of that mineral, and given its many industrial uses (cement, powders, fertilizers, lime production, etc.) was extracted in large quantities and then loaded and transported from here in railway wagons.

The comparatively busy goods operations at Banstead can be glanced from these 1922 aerial views, which also illustrate how sparsely populated the area was at the time.

After WW2 freight traffic decreased dramatically; Banstead goods yard closed at the end of 1964 and its track lifted. The space (immediately adjacent to the up line platform) has been used by various builders merchants ever since.

The introduction of track circuit block and colour light signalling in 1969 made Banstead signalbox redundant.

More dramatic change came about on 3 October 1982, when the entire branch was reduced to single track as a result of the destruction of Epsom Downs signal box by fire in November 1981.

Class 456 #022 is ready to depart Banstead for Victoria on 10 August 2006 - the builders merchant's yard is visible to the left of the platform (Robert Oakes photograph, used with kind permission)

The comparison of the view from the end of the platform towards the station building in 1961 and 1995 illustrates the amount of change at Banstead as a result of the singling of the line.

The station building, however, has remained virtually the same for decades in terms of outward appearance.

This picture seems to be the oldest existing public photograph of Banstead station ("Post Office Series" postcard #358, probably showing the station c.1900). The station buildings from 1865 remained in their original condition right up until 1935, when the constant rise in traffic called for some alterations.

The station is located in what historically was an agricultural hamlet of Banstead village, called Nork Close. The estate was sold in 1923 to the Halden Estates Co. Ltd. from London who started the housing development that quickly turned into a sprawling residential area. It also included a row of shops in what came to be called Nork Village (and which was only a short and easy walk from the railway station) as well as detached and semi-detached houses on Nork Way and Warren Road (named after the old Warren Farm).

Nearly four million houses were built in England between 1919 and 1939, and the vast majority of these (nearly three million) were built in the growing areas of suburbia and offered for sale, not rent.

The number of owner-occupied houses in Britain thus soared from around 750,000 in the early 1920s to more than 3,250,000 by 1938 (Gardiner, 2010), and the countryside along the Epsom Downs branch saw an increasingly intensive building activity.

The Halden Estates Co. Ltd. advertised their houses with a poster proclaiming the simple message of "Nork - live there!", and although the company itself collapsed in April 1925, the residential area continued to grow. In 1927, the line had seen the purchase of 3'000 season tickets - by 1933, this figure had grown to 13'000 and was still rising (Kirkby, 1983).

Banstead Public Library

The V&A Collection

This view of the station, taken around 1930, shows the improved road surface and added lettering on the roof of the station building to guide pilots into Croydon airport. The house on the left was the station master's residence, whilst a small bookstall is squeezed in between the two larger buildings. Apart from losing its two chimneys, Banstead station's road-level frontage has since remained almost unchanged over the decades since.

April 1995

October 2007

October 2012

The interior, however, has seen a steady reduction of room space serving railway use, with large parts of the building now boarded up - ultimately serving as nothing else than an entry point to the platforms below.

The original layout of the station building had the entrance leading directly to the booking office, with covered stairways on both sides of the building leading down to the platforms. These had been lengthened in the 1930s and provided with canopies in the 1950s.

With the singling of the track, the up platform was put out of use and the covered stairway leading down to it removed.

The platform structure is essentially still there, but ballast and dirt have been piled up against the now heavily overgrown structure.

Banstead station in 1961 (Ben Brooksbank, Creative Commons Licence)

It had been a long time indeed since passengers had been able to board a train and take first class seats at Banstead, but this once more became an option for as long as the Class 377 (dubbed "Electrostar" and actually intended for outer-suburban and main-line service) showed up occasionally on the branch for a while in 2007 (this unit was on its way to London Victoria on 6 October of that year).

For more information on the local history of Banstead see the website of the Banstead History Research Group

SOURCES

GARDINER Juliet (2010) The Thirties: An Intimate History of Britain, Harper Press

KIRKBY J.R.W. Kirkby (1983) The Banstead and Epsom Downs Railway, Locomotion Papers Series, Oakwood Press

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Page last revised: 20 October 2024