No Return

A direct railway line between Banbury and Cheltenham was proposed in 1872 and received parliamentary approval in 1873. The economic justification for the project was the transport of iron ore from the Banbury area, including our village, to the southern Welsh ironworks. From the start it was poorly supported and poorly funded. It took much longer and cost much more to construct than was anticipated. The western section, from Kingham (which was then called Chipping Norton Junction) to Cheltenham was opened in 1881 and the eastern section from Banbury to Chipping Norton in 1887. The company that managed the construction sold the line to Great Western Railways in 1896 for about a quarter of what they had spent, a financial disaster for investors

The section through Hook Norton was particularly problematic, comprising as it does one of the largest cuttings in England, some substantial embankments, a tunnel and a viaduct, all within a couple of kilometers. The construction work was all carried out by "navvies", of course, who were encamped near the village for several years. My personal conjecture is that this was no small part of the early success of the brewery in yesterday's Blip. The brewery was established in 1849 but substantial investment, including the construction of the tower I discussed yesterday, took place in 1901

Improvements to the line at Kingham took place in 1906, making it possible to catch a through train from Barry in South Wales to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Passenger traffic ceased in 1962 and the line closed in 1964 - ironically, just as rural villages like Hook Norton were acquiring modern amenities and attracting aspirational incomers and commuters, being transformed from post-war dereliction to the to the expanding centres of middle-class affluence they are today

The supports in the background of the picture are all that remains of the Hook Norton viaduct - a reminder of what might have been. The cuttings are a moss-draped nature reserve. The tunnel is closed because it is unsafe, but I have heard talk of it being a home to an uncommon species of bat. The thatch cottage in the picture is the property of a successful TV personality from one of the 'build your dream home' genre of series. Despite its traditional appearance, it has been refurbished with many cutting-edge, sustainable and eco-friendly technologies