Listed Building record MDR9693 - Cromford Railway Station, Cromford

Cromford Railway Station, Cromford, built in 1849. 'Cromford station, c1845. Ensemble of station, footbridge, waiting room and stationmaster's house, by G. H. Stokes, Paxton's assistant. In 1974 the station proper was closed up and the track lifted, but the trains still ran on a 'paytrain' principal. To the north is Willersley Tunnel and to the south a small viaduct. There is clear 'chateau' influence evident in the station master's house and in the other buildings with their curving roofs. The waiting room chimney has been removed. The leaded lights effect of the waiting room windows are reflected in the criss-cross pattern in the bridge with its curly decorations. Good platform awning and valancing, supported on slender and decorative wrought iron columns.' (1) 'In 1849 the Manchester, Matlock, Buxton and Midlands Junction Railway opened a line to Rowsley passing through Cromford. The station-master's house and the up line waiting room were built in c1855 and 1860 in coursed gritstone with slate roofs. The design by GH Stokes bears witness to his work in France with his father-in-law Joseph Paxton in the 1850s. The station buildings on the down line were built in 1874 and are now leased as a Venture Scouts Activity Centre. The Butterley Company erected the ornate footbridge in 1885.' (2) 'Cromford Station opened in 1849, as part of the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway line between Ambergate and Rowsley. This line was engineered by George Stephenson and was conceived as a link to Manchester, but it was not until 1863 that the line was extended from Rowsley to Buxton, where it joined and had running rights on the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge line through to Manchester. The through route to Manchester was opened in its entirety in 1867. By 1871 the Midland Railway had taken over the whole of the line. Temporary wooden buildings probably occupied Cromford Station at first. The first permanent building to be constructed was the Station Master's House, completed in 1855, a two-storey building constructed from ashlar gritstone with a slate roof, designed in the French Chateau style by the son-in-law of Joseph Paxton, GH Stokes. The up-line (east) platform building, completed in 1860, is a single-storey building constructed from ashlar gritstone with a slate roof, again designed in the French Chateau style by Stokes, and initially provided offices and stores as well as the waiting room function that it continued to fulfil after the second building was constructed on the other platform. The down-line (west) platform building, completed in 1874, is a single-storey building constructed from ashlar gritstone that was apparently designed in-house by Midland Railway architects and became the station offices as well as the down-line waiting room when it was built by Midland Railway as part of a series of improvements after they took over full control of the line. The elliptical iron latticed footbridge was constructed by the Butterley Company in 1885. The through line to Manchester closed in 1968, leaving a passenger-only service from Ambergate to Matlock. The line is now single track, the east platform is not used and the public is not allowed onto the bridge. Use by British Railways of the main station building and the up-line platform waiting rooms ceased in 1969. The up-line waiting rooms are unoccupied, although they have planning consent for conversion to a holiday let. In 1973 the main building was converted by the South London Scout troop as an activity centre but for many years this has also been empty. The Station Master's house is privately owned and occupied as a private residence.' (3) 'The two platform buildings footbridge and station house form the station buildings dating around 1860. The architect may have been G.H. Stokes, Sir Joseph Paxton's son-in-law.' (4) From the National Heritage List for England: '1. LEA ROAD 1390 CROMFORD Cromford Station (main building on west platform) SK 35 NW 7/60 15.6.71. II GV 2. Circa 1860, ascribed to G H Stakes, son-in-law to Sir Joseph Paxton. Ashlar, single-storeyed; long range of 11 windows overall, pairs of sashes (no glazing bars) with sloping sills and chamfered architraves; door hood supported by ornate pierced cast iron brackets; hipped slate roof, the central part slightly raised; moulded eaves cornice; stone stacks. No longer in use. Cromford Station main building, footbridge, building on east platform and Station Master's house form a group. Listing NGR: SK3027157397.' (5)