Blackhall Rocks
The northern end of the site of the station in 1970.
General information
LocationBlackhall Rocks, County Durham
England
Coordinates54°44′34″N 1°16′34″W / 54.7429°N 1.2761°W / 54.7429; -1.2761
Grid referenceNZ467389
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyNorth Eastern Railway
Pre-groupingNorth Eastern Railway
Post-grouping
Key dates
July 1907 (1907-07)Opened
4 January 1960Closed to passengers
7 December 1964 (1964-12-07)Closed completely

Blackhall Rocks was one of two railway stations to have served the Blackhalls in County Durham, North East England, and was a stop on the Durham Coast Line. The station was poorly sited for the village that grew around Blackhall Colliery in the years following its opening and, after the opening of the more conveniently sited Blackhall Colliery station in 1936,[1] it came to primarily serve the more southerly village of Blackhall Rocks.

History

On 1 April 1905, the North Eastern Railway opened a new coastal line to link together the former Londonderry, Seaham and Sunderland Railway at Seaham and former Hartlepool Dock and Railway at Hart.[2] This line was built, primarily, to avoid the steep gradients of the older inland route at Ryhope and Hesleden Banks[3] but also provided access to the newly developing collieries of the Durham Coast.[4]

In July 1907, the NER added a station to serve the Blackhalls at what would become Blackhall Rocks.[5] The first station was likely sited here as the sinking of Blackhall Colliery would not begin until 1909 and thus, at the time, it was anticipated that the station would primarily be used by tourists visiting the caves at Blackhall Rocks.[1] This meant that the village that developed to serve the colliery was left some distance from their nearest railway station. Between the summer and 1 October 1919, the station was only served on Wednesdays and Saturdays.[5]

The NER became part of the London and North Eastern Railway as part of the 1923 grouping[3] and, on 24 July 1936, that company opened an additional station,[1] approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north, to serve the colliery village. Although this meant that the station ceased to primarily serve that village, a community had begun to grow close to Blackhall Rocks station during the 1920s, making it not entirely redundant. LNER lines in the North East came under the control of the North Eastern Region of British Railways following its nationalisation in 1948.[3] By this time, passenger and goods traffic across the country was in decline and this was the case for Blackhall station, which closed to passengers on 4 January 1960[5] and then to all traffic on 7 December 1960.[6]

Passenger services continue to pass through the site of the station, but the only station between Seaham and Hartlepool to have been reopened (as of 2021) is at Horden.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cliffs, Caves and Coal: A Short History of the Blackhalls Area up to 1920. Hartlepool: Deneholme Publishing. 2001. pp. 9, 19, 53, 55. ISBN 0954149203.
  2. ↑ Body, Geoffrey (1989). PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2. Patrick Stephens Limited. pp. 66, 85, 150. ISBN 1852600721.
  3. 1 2 3 Hill, Norman (2001). Teesside Railways A View From The Past. Ian Allan Publishing Ltd. pp. 48, 58, 65. ISBN 0711028036.
  4. ↑ "blackhall_history_1_7" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Quick, M. E. (2001). Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales - a chronology. Richmond: Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 81. OCLC 931112387.
  6. ↑ "Site of Blackhall Rocks Station © Ben Brooksbank cc-by-sa/2.0 :: Geograph Britain and Ireland". Geograph. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "temporary-timetable-for-mondays-to-saturdays-4167-qmvpwa.pdf" (PDF). Retrieved 16 February 2021.
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Hart
Line open; station closed		   London and North Eastern Railway
Durham Coast Line		   Blackhall Colliery
Line open; station closed


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