Ringwood - Christchurch
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| Few people realise, as they speed along
the A338 Bournemouth Spur Road, that for part of the way, they are travelling along the course of a former railway
trackbed that was once the main route from Bournemouth to London. In 1847, the Southampton-Dorchester line had opened, promoted by Charles Castleman, a solicitor whose business was conducted in Ringwood and Wimborne and the line passed through both of those places. Routing the line through Christchurch and Bournemouth was not favoured owing to expected high construction costs and the fact that Bournemouth was only a small village at that time. However, in 1856, the residents of Christchurch, wishing to have the benefits of modern communications, petitioned their Mayor to support a railway from Ringwood to Christchurch and on to Bournemouth. Later in 1856, notice was given of the intention to promote a Bill in Parliament for the construction of the line by the 'Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway' company. The Bill was passed by Parliament in 1857, but later the same year, the promoters withdrew the Bill due to inadequate local share subscriptions and the state of the money market. A second attempt In 1858, the promotors hired William Moorsom, who had surveyed the route of the Southampton-Dorchester line and asked him to produce new proposals for the Christchurch line. The original total cost for 13 miles of line had been given as £100,000, but with economies, Captain Moorsom reckoned that a line to Christchurch (8 miles) would cost around £45,000 and an extension to Bournemouth could be considered later on. This time, the shares were taken up more enthusiastically and a revised Bill received Royal Assent in 1859. A station was built at Hurn and since the line passed through several miles of Lord Malmesbury's land, a Halt was provided where the Act of Parliament enabled Lord Malmesbury as occupier of Avon Cottage (later replaced by Avon Castle) to stop any ordinary train as required. Subsequently, Lord Malmesbury sold Avon Cottage and there is a twist in this tale as described later. The line, costing £53,000, opened in 1862 (very roughly, this is about £4.5M adjusted to 2007). It was reckoned to be one of the cheapest to build in England, but this resulted in steep gradients and sharp curves with a maximum speed limit of only 25mph. The contractors received only about a fifth of their price in cash, the remainder being in bonds and shares. In 1864, receipts covered working expenses twice over, but the huge burden of the interest on the debentures, together with other costs, wiped out all of the profit. The Bournemouth Extension It could be seen that an extension to Bournemouth would transform the income of the company. Proposals were drawn up in 1862, but the line, with capital of £40,000, did not open until 1870, largely owing to difficulty in attracting finance. However, by 1873, receipts for the extended line were almost five times what they had been five years previously, still with a two-to-one margin over working expenses, and by 1874, the dividend reached 7%. The LSWR had worked the entire line from the start and from 1872, provided through carriages from Bournemouth to London. However, the LSWR would not stop these trains at Avon Lodge Halt as it was claimed that they were not ordinary trains as specified by the Act. The new occupant of Avon Cottage went to Court over the matter in 1874, but lost the case. The LSWR takes over The LSWR meanwhile, was building a line to Poole and Bournemouth from the west. They felt that this might result in a conflict of interest with the RC&B company and proposed to purchase it on terms that would give an immediate 13% boost to the value of the ordinary stock. This was agreed and the final general meeting was held in 1874. In reality, with Bournemouth growing rapidly, the LSWR probably had in mind their plans for a more direct route to London via New Milton which opened in 1888 and for which they were able to use the RC&B's line from Bournemouth to Christchurch. Thereafter, the Ringwood-Christchurch line became a backwater, having lost it's original purpose. Closure Closure was first considered in 1920. At that time, Hurn averaged 22 ticket sales per day and by the end of the decade, this had fallen to just seven with about half that number for Avon Lodge Halt. Thus the Halt for Avon Castle, now in the ownership of the Earl of Egmont, generated under £50 in annual revenue. It appears that the two stations together probably had originating revenue of not much more than £10,000 annually in today's prices! Not surprisingly, after the closure of the signalbox in 1927, Hurn station was manned by just one person and it was left to Mr. Delia(*), the stationmaster for the final eight years, to see away the last train on 28th September 1935, something that would become more familiar 30 years later. (* As recorded by two sources quoting from a local newspaper, but it is probably 'DeLia'). The track was lifted in 1937 and the principal remnant of the line today is Hurn Station, which is now the Avon Causeway Hotel, see bird's eye view. An afternote.... The Earl of Egmont had purchased Avon Castle with it's private Halt in 1912. When the 9th Earl died in 1929, title passed to his cousin who, although born in England, had spent much of his life in Canada and was at that time living on a ranch with his 15 year old son. They came to England to take up the title and arrived at Ringwood Station to be greeted by a throng of reporters and onlookers. There was no car to take them onwards nor, it would seem, a train that would stop at Avon Lodge Halt. In 1932, the 10th Earl was returning from an evening at the theatre in Southampton when he was killed in a car crash. So once again, the private Halt had proved to be of little value to him. The new 11th Earl, aged just 18, preferred the ranch life and returned to Canada, selling Avon Castle in 1938. In the meantime, of course, the railway had closed. |
| One of the advantages of running close to
the River Avon was the lack of earthworks between Ringwood & Christchurch; this minor cutting near the Matchams
viewpoint being one of only three short cuttings on the line. It is hard to imagine that this was once the main line to London! |
| The trackbed south of the Avon Causeway Hotel. |
Young J.A.; The Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway; Bournemouth Local Studies Publications 1992.