Save Oswestry’s Railway Heritage
CPRE Shropshire
Protecting Shropshire
Oswestry boasts “the best and most complete surviving example of a regional railway headquarters in Great Britain” according to renowned heritage architects Donald Insall Associates. [1] Now the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Oswestry Civic Society are calling for the stronger protection for the Cambrian Railway buildings which are under severe threat of demolition to make way for a new supermarket complex. [2]
Saffron Rainey, Chairman of Oswestry and District Civic Society says: “This is a unique railway landscape that has huge potential for the future of Oswestry. It’s unacceptable that it could be seriously damaged by proposals for retail development. Oswestry needs to champion its heritage which could bring great economic benefits to the town.” [3]
Mike Bullen, Chairman of CPRE’s Oswestry District Group explains the new planning context. “Planning guidance on heritage has recently changed. There is a much greater emphasis on seeing heritage as an economic asset and viewing landscapes as whole, rather than a collection of individual buildings. It is obvious that this unique railway headquarters can help boost Oswestry’s economy and create a distinctive heritage and tourist attraction. We do not believe that Shropshire Council has conducted sufficient evaluation of the significance of this heritage asset as required by the new heritage planning guidance.” [4]
Saffron Rainey concludes: “We believe that in view of its national importance, the whole site, not just individual buildings, meets the criteria described in English Heritage’s documents to justify it being upgraded to Grade II* listing. This is why we are calling on English Heritage to give the site the status and protection that it deserves and which it urgently needs. Oswestry’s Cambrian Railway complex adds significantly to the area’s industrial heritage which includes the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct World Heritage Site, the Llanymynech lime works, the Montgomery Canal and much more.”
Notes
[1] Donald Insall Associates (leading heritage and conservation architects: www.donaldinsallassociates.co.uk): Cambrian Railways Conservation Management Plan, December 2005 for the Cambrian Railways Trust.
[2] Buildings on the north part of the site are threatened by the Burbidge retail park proposal, one of four retail proposals currently being considered for Oswestry (http://cpreshropshire.org.uk/campaigns/towns/oswestry/retail/oswestry_retail.htm; http://oswestry21.com/).
[3] Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the Historic Environment (PPS5) was published on 23 March 2010. The then Housing and Planning Minster John Healey said: "Our country has a rich heritage, with a unique set of buildings, monuments and landscapes that are highly prized by the people who live near them as well as tourists from all over the world. Heritage assets can never be replaced, which is why I'm giving councils the expert tools they need to make these assets the centrepieces of local regeneration while protecting our historic environment for future generations." http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/planningandbuilding/1519879.
[4] The complex of railway buildings at Oswestry was the focal point of the Cambrian Railways from the 1860s, being its administrative and engineering headquarters as well as the centre of its rail network. The site contains the magnificent station building, extensive engineering, manufacturing and maintenance sheds, works and ancillary structures including the little known Locomotive Running Shed. All have been acknowledged to be of national importance:
”They are the best and most complete surviving example of a regional railway headquarters in Great Britain. The striking chimney and the mass of the railway workshops of the former Cambrian Works dominate the approach into Oswestry and, together with the opulent station building, set the scene of a largely unchanged area of nineteenth century industrial landscape” (Donald Insall Associates).
The station, the extensive engineering sheds, the goods shed, locomotive running shed, signalbox and post are all Grade II listed buildings.
The Industrial Context
Prior to the arrival of the railway in the 1840s, there had been extensive mineral exploitation in the countryside surrounding Oswestry. To service this industry, small scale tramways and feeder railways were built and these were subsequently linked to an elaborate canal system. This efficient transport system in turn led to an expansion of the lime industry, to support both agriculture and industrial development. In recent years, this industrial archaeology has been the focus of considerable investigation, followed by investment and protection making a considerable positive impact on the economic viability of the area.
The area around Oswestry has one of the widest, most unspoilt range of industrial heritage sites in the country. The arrival of the Cambrian Railways, in the early nineteenth century, linked these industries to the national transport networks.
The Cambrian Railways complex at Oswestry is largely a product of the 1840s to 1860s railway boom. The extent and survival on this site of both the major junction station and administrative buildings, together with the infra structure and ancillary buildings associated with a working railway, makes it possible to better understand a period of great significance in the evolution of the railway system and the part it played in industrial development on the Welsh Borders.
The area north west of Oswestry, because of its remarkable canal and railway infrastructure, has recently been granted World Heritage Site Status. The historic Cambrian Railways Network in Oswestry, adjacent to this World Heritage site, adds great value to the whole area with its community cross border links.
The Integrated site
Within the complex evolution of a railway, many physical and separate parts work together to create a greater whole. It is unwise to suggest that some parts are of greater significance than others. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The importance of the railway site in Oswestry is that no other regional railway headquarter complexes are known to have survived.
The Buildings
While Oswestry has a long history as an important mediaeval, Marches Town, its current appearance owes much to its 19th century role as a railway town. Some of the features of the railway buildings may appear unremarkable, but together they form an almost complete picture of a railway headquarters as it must have been in the mid nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The engineering and administrative centres, station, offices, sheds, platforms, track, sidings and engineering buildings are on a grand scale. Many of the buildings on this site have been described in detail when they were granted Grade 11 status and the attached map shows the number and size of the railway buildings, which include:
1. The Railway Engineering Works, including the adjacent Locomotive Running Shed, presently hidden from view and being surrounded by modern storage sheds, but still substantially intact. The Works consist of numerous ancillary structures pertinent to the working of a railway.
2. The railway station and headquarters offices of the Cambrian Railways Company.
3. Railway Transhipment / Goods Shed
4. Signal Box and Post
Further Information
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