ISLE OF WIGHT RAILWAYS: WROXALL STATION – THE LAST STOP BEFORE VENTNOR

Wroxall Station was at the heart of village life for the 100 years it was in operation – from 1866 to 1966.

The development of Wroxall owed much to the railway. Many of the houses in the main street were originally built to accommodate the workmen who were tunnelling between Wroxall to Ventnor through the downs.

The railway was also responsible at one time for much of Wroxall’s water supply. The digging of the tunnel to Ventnor had uncovered natural springs at the base of the down, which was piped along the railway line to the village.

Article continues below this advertisement

Before the coming of the railway, the closest Wroxall had to regular public transport was a stagecoach to Godshill. A waggonette – drawn by 2 horses – conveyed villagers to other parts of the Island.

Wroxall was lucky to have a railway station. The original plans for the line along the east coast of the Island between Ryde and Ventnor envisaged the railway leaving Shanklin – going over a viaduct at Cowlease Hill – before passing through a cutting to terminate in Bonchurch.

The line hugging the coast met with considerable opposition, as it was felt it would destroy the view across Luccombe. In August 1859, a House of Commons Committee rejected the Bill for the Isle of Wight Railway (Eastern Section).

In 1860, a 2nd Bill was introduced to the House of Commons, with a new route between Shanklin and Ventnor through the village of Wroxall and then through the downs to the terminus at Ventnor. This became law on 23rd July of that year.

Article continues below this advertisement

The first train to stop at Wroxall Station did so at just before 08:00 on 10th September 1866, having left Ryde some 20 minutes previously (the journey by public transport today would take just under an hour).

Initially, the station facilities were primitive, with a wooden station building and a single platform on the up side. There was a spur on the down side of the line to Mr Summerhay’s brick kilns, which later became a siding to Mr Flux’s bacon factory.

The station building was later rebuilt in more durable materials. In 1870, a small plot of land next to the up platform came into the possession of a Mr Grant, who constructed a 2-storey hotel with a refreshment room on the ground floor opening directly onto the platform.

Before the advent of electric carriage lighting, trains would stop for several minutes at Wroxall for oil lamps to be placed in each compartment for the run through the tunnel to Ventnor. The station was lit by gas up until its closure.

Once in use, Wroxall station became a lifeline for many local commuters. In the 1920s, over 200 villagers would purchase season tickets for the trains.

Several tragedies occurred at the station during its century of operation. The first railway death in Wroxall happened at a crossing before the station had been completed when a locomotive ran into a horse-drawn wagon stuck on the track, killing the horse and driver.

On 30th December 1915, 64-year-old Thomas May was struck by the end van of the 15:45 train from Shanklin to Ventnor and died from his injuries at Ryde Infirmary.

On 26th December 1923, 82-year-old widow Mary Ann Westmore – who was described by her son as being “queer in the head” and suffering from deafness and blindness – was hit by the 14:05 train from Wroxall to Shanklin. A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

Wroxall Station was also in the news in January 1877 when escaped Parkhurst convict John Wilson was captured on his way to catch a train there in a deplorable condition, having slept in open fields and subsisted on turnips. Wilson claimed he had intended to break into a cottage in the environs of Wroxall, but when he saw an elderly couple sitting by the fire, took pity and decided against his plan.

In December 1899, Wroxall Station was engulfed in flames when the adjoining bacon factory caught fire. In the days long before health and safety, hundreds of people packed onto the 20:00 train in Ventnor to view the spectacle, attracted by the glow in the sky, the ringing of fire bells and the sound of explosions.

Increased competition from cars and buses led to the closure of Wroxall Railway Station on 17th April 1966. The last train left for Ventnor at just past 22:00.

Sadly, the former station has now been demolished with a new road (Station Road) running across the south end of the site. Station Hotel still stands, having been converted into residential units.

Plans have since been made to reinstate the railway line between Shanklin and Ventnor. In 1996, there was a proposal to relocate the factory on the former site of Wroxall Station, demolish the Castle Road Bridge and build a new station building on the other side of the track to its predecessor.

Given the current difficulties of accessing Ventnor following the closure of Leeson Road, such an idea is becoming progressively less fanciful.

Would Island Echo readers wish to see the railway return…?