Sheringham Railway Station including two telegraph posts and four lamp posts

Summary

Railway station, built in 1887 for the Eastern and Midlands Railway, probably to a design by William Marriott, the company engineer, with a separate office for Great Eastern Railway staff added in 1906. The station closed in 1967 when British Rail opened a replacement station 200m to the east. Additions of 1897, comprising a platform canopy, screen wall and offices on the opposite platform, were demolished at the same time. It reopened in July 1975 on the North Norfolk Railway’s preserved line which originally ran from Sheringham to Weybourne but was extended to Holt in 1989. Two telegraph poles and five lamp posts on Platform 1 are also included in the listing but the Sheringham East Signal Box is excluded. Also excluded from the listing are the footbridge, toilet block and souvenir shop, all added in 2016.

Reasons for Designation

Sheringham Railway Station, built in 1887 for the Eastern and Midlands Railway, probably to a design by William Marriott, Company Engineer, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as one of the most substantially complete E&MR stations that displays an impressive architectural quality over and above the functional designs that were adopted for many rural stations nationally during the completion of the rail network;

* for its remarkably complete elevations with their original fenestration, doors and platform canopy, along with its well-preserved plan form;

* the internal spaces are also remarkably complete and retain historic fixtures throughout, including ticket windows, M&GN branded fireplaces, matchboard-clad ceilings, panelled doors, picture rails and office furniture.

Historic interest:

* as a station serving a line engineered by William Marriott, an engineer who played a significant role in consolidating and developing the railway network in the East of England, laying the groundwork for further expansion and contributing to the economic and social development of the region;

* as a pivotal building in the development of Sheringham, and the north Norfolk coast, as a popular tourist destination during the late Victorian and Edwardian periods.

History

In 1876, 1880 and 1881, the Lynn and Fakenham Railway (L&FR) was authorised by Acts of Parliament to construct railways extending eastward from King's Lynn through Melton Constable to Norwich; to Holt, Blakeney and Cromer; and to North Walsham to join the Yarmouth and North Norfolk Railway (Y&NNR). In January 1883, the L&FR and YNNR along with the Yarmouth Union, Midland and Eastern, and Peterborough, Wisbech and Sutton Railway Companies, amalgamated to form the Eastern and Midlands Railway (E&MR). The E&MR finally commenced work on the Blakeney line in April 1883, with the work overseen by William Marriott, the Company’s resident engineer, and Richard Parkinson, assistant engineer. Although Holt was reached later the same year, passenger services to the town only commenced on 1 October 1884, and from a temporary station until a permanent facility was built in 1886. After a short delay, primarily to raise funds, work restarted in 1885. By this time, the Company had serious doubts over the financial viability of the Blakeney extension, and refocused its attention on serving the fast-developing, and more profitable, holiday destinations of Sheringham and Cromer. The line from Holt to Cromer opened to passengers on 16 June 1887, with Cromer Beach and Sheringham stations opening at the same time, whilst the station at West Runton was delayed until September. No station was planned for Weybourne at this time, as indicated by the line’s route which by-passed the village. The Blakeney extension was finally abandoned in 1888.

In 1889, the E&MR, which had struggled to generate profits and faced financial difficulties from the outset, was declared bankrupt. After a brief period in administration, it was acquired by the Midland and Great Northern Railway Companies in 1893. All three units combined as the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) which, as the largest ‘joint’ railway in Britain, challenged the near monopoly held by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) on East Anglian rail traffic. In 1896, however, the two Companies agreed to establish the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway Committee to control two lines: Yarmouth to Lowestoft, which opened in 1903, and from North Walsham to Cromer, which opened to Mundesley in 1898 and to Cromer Beach in 1906. A new line was also constructed around Cromer in 1906, allowing GER trains to bypass Cromer Beach and run direct to Sheringham. To accommodate the additional traffic at Sheringham the station layout was remodelled, and two new signal boxes were constructed to replace the existing signal box on platform two: Sheringham West was built to control the entrance to the single line section that led to Melton Constable; and Sheringham East signal box controlled the entrance to the single line section towards Cromer. Unfortunately, the cordial understanding between the two Companies did not extend to the sharing of station facilities, and the M&GNR built a new office at Sheringham for sole use by GER staff. As an attempt to try and increase revenue, after seeing Cromer and Sheringham develop as fashionable seaside resorts, the M&GNJR decided to develop Weybourne as a holiday resort. A station was subsequently built there in 1900, opening to passengers on 1 July 1901.

On 28 February 1959, four years after the publication of British Rail’s ‘modernisation plan’, most of the M&GNR network was shut down. The line from Cromer to Melton Constable, however, was given a short reprieve, until the section between Sheringham and Melton Constable closed on 4 April 1964. Although the waiting room and signal box on Platform 2 were demolished, Sheringham Station remained opened until 1967 when services moved to a new station erected 200m to the east.

The closure of the M&GNJR gave rise to the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Preservation Society (M&GNJRPS) whose initial aim was to preserve as much of the network as possible. As an operating company was required to run a preserved railway, the Society established Central Norfolk Enterprises Ltd in 1961, which was renamed the North Norfolk Railway Company (NNR) in 1969. In 1964, by which time the Society’s aims had become less ambitious, they purchased a three-mile section of line from Weybourne to Sheringham, including Weybourne Station, along with an option to buy the track bed from Weybourne to High Kelling. The Society initially established its headquarters at Weybourne, but relocated to Sheringham in 1967. Following the closure of Sheringham Station, the council sought to demolish Sheringham East Signal Box (excluded from the listing) to widen Station Road. It was subsequently saved from demolition by the NNR who moved it to a site on platform two in 1972, although it was moved again in 2012 to a new location adjacent to the level crossing. Initially, only members of the M&GNJRPS could use the preserved line, although day membership was available at the ticket office. The general public were finally carried from July 1975 after the granting of a Light Railway Order. In 1980, the trackbed from Weybourne to High Kelling was purchased, although the relaying of the track took nine years. The preserved line finally opened to a new station at Holt on 19th March 1989. In 2016, a replica of the original Sheringham footbridge was erected at the east end of the station, along with a toilet block and souvenir shop at the east end of Platform 1 (all excluded from the listing).

Details

Railway station, built in 1887 for the Eastern and Midlands Railway, probably to a design by William Marriott, the company engineer, with a separate office for Great Eastern Railway staff added in 1906. The station closed in 1967 when British Rail opened a replacement station 200m to the east. Additions of 1897, comprising a platform canopy, screen wall and offices on the opposite platform, were demolished at the same time. It reopened in July 1975 on the North Norfolk Railway’s preserved line which originally ran from Sheringham to Weybourne but was extended to Holt in 1989. Two telegraph poles and five lamp posts on Platform 1 are also included in the listing but Sheringham East Signal Box is excluded. Also excluded from the listing are the footbridge, toilet block and souvenir shop, all added in 2016.

MATERIALS: of red brick in Flemish bond with buff and blue brick dressings and a Welsh slate roof with red brick stacks. The platform canopy has cast-iron columns and a glass roof.

PLAN: the original station building of 1887 stands on the north side of the railway tracks on Platform 1. It is rectangular, aligned west-north-west to east-south-east, and consists of three adjoining blocks: a booking hall and ladies' waiting room; a range formerly accommodating the station master's office, waiting room and parcels and goods office (all now combined to form a buffet); and a kitchen/storeroom (originally a separate gentlemen’s WC and storeroom which were combined in the late C20). A detached GER staff office built in 1906 (now used by NNR staff) stands immediately to the east.

EXTERIOR: the 1887 and 1906 station buildings are single-storeyed with an identical external treatment apart from the former storeroom. All have, unless otherwise stated, a chamfered plinth edged with splayed blue bricks, half-hipped roofs with gables of patterned timber-framing, and segmental-headed windows and doorways with buff-brick surrounds. The windows themselves are timber-framed eight-over-four horned sashes with blue-brick bullnose cills and the doors have sunk panels with bolection mouldings.

The booking hall and waiting room elevation to Railway Approach is of 1:2:3:2-bays of which the three-bay section is masked by a gabled entrance porch with buff-brick corner pilasters and a pair of eight-over-four fixed windows in a single opening. It conceals a doorway with two-panel double doors and flanking sashes. The flanking two-bay ranges are gabled with two sashes each, and the single bay at the east end is set back with a narrow eight-over-four hopper window. Its left-hand return has three single-light windows with horizontal glazing bars. The three gables to this range all have patterns of timber framing with roughcast render infill and overhanging eaves with deep bargeboards and spike finials.

Set back to the west side of the booking hall and waiting room is the former station master's office, waiting room, and parcels and goods office (all now combined as a buffet). Its façade is divided into 3:2:1:1-bays by buff-brick strip pilasters to which are fixed cast-iron brackets with foliated pierced spandrels supporting a flat-roofed timber canopy with pierced daggerboard valancing comprised of shingled (pointed) daggers. Its has, from left to right: a central doorway with half-glazed and panelled double doors flanked by a sash to its left and a bricked-up window opening to its right; a two-panelled two-light door and a sash; a doorway with two-panelled double doors with raised pyramidal panels; and a sash. Its right-hand return has a half-glazed heck door with a multi-paned top section and fanlight.

Set back again to the west side of the former parcels and goods office (now buffet) is the former gentlemen’s WC (now buffet kitchen) and storeroom; the two structures were originally separate, the WC also flat-roofed, but were combined under a single gabled roof in the late C20. The former WC has a blind elevation with buff-brick quoins and a buff-brick strip pilaster to its left- and right-hand ends respectively. The storeroom has buff-brick quoins at each end, with two single-light windows to its left-hand side and a pair of sliding timber doors to the off-centre right. Its gabled right-hand return has a single-light louvered window.

The platform elevation is arranged as 1:3:3:3:3:1-bays, with the former open section at the west end of the former goods and parcels office being infilled in the late C20. From east to west, the waiting room has a set-back bay with a narrow eight-over-four hopper window at its east end and to its left a projecting three-bay section with a central four-panel door and flanking sashes with buff-brick quoins to its right-hand corner and a buff-brick strip pilaster to its left-hand side. Set back to its left is the three-bay booking hall with two-panelled double-doors flanked on each side by sashes. Projecting to its left-hand side, with buff-brick quoins to its right-hand corner and a buff-brick strip pilaster to its left-hand, is a three-bay section with three sashes which was probably the former station master's office. To its left again is a further three-bay section with buff-brick strip pilasters at each end and a half-glazed double door flanked by sashes on each side, possibly a former waiting room. To the left again is a single bay defined by buff-brick quoins and with a two-panelled, two-light door. Projecting to the right-hand side of the door is a British Rail (East) station clock with its case supported on decorative scrolled iron brackets. Adjoining to the left is the former parcels and goods office which was originally open to the platform but enclosed in the late C20. It consists of a single-bay kiosk and four bays of three-light mullion and transom windows, with half-glazed double doors to the first bay from the right-hand side, all above diagonally-aligned matchboard. The platform in front of these principal ranges, except for the set-back bay at the east end, is covered by a seven-bay ridge and furrow canopy with a hipped glass roof and pierced daggerboard valancing comprised of shingled (pointed) daggers. It is supported on a combination of paired cast-iron brackets supported on cast-iron columns with scalloped capitals along with cast-iron brackets fixed to the station building; the brackets with decorative spandrels with pierced foliate work.

Projecting slightly at the west end of the former parcels and goods office is the former gentlemen’s WC (now buffet kitchen). It is of three irregular bays which are defined by buff-brick strip pilasters, between which are recessed panels with dentilled heads. The narrower right-hand bay has a flat-headed doorway while the two bays to its left have off-centre right sashes which were inserted in the late C20. A former open entrance to the left was infilled in the late C20 with a timber door set behind a bared cast-iron gate. The storeroom to the left has buff-brick quoins and a sliding timber door with an inset pedestrian door.

GER OFFICE: the GER office of 1906 stands immediately to the east of the original station building. Its Railway Approach elevation has an off-centre left external stack with a two-panel, two-light door to its right. The platform elevation has an identical door to its left-hand side and two sashes to its right.

INTERIOR: the booking hall has a parquet timber floor and four king-post trusses to a matchboard-clad roof. Its west side comprises a timber-framed screen with two ticket windows along with a C20 replacement door giving access to the booking office behind. The east side has a four-panel door with bolection mouldings and a cast-iron stove. Walls are plastered and painted with a moulded dado rail.

The ladies' waiting room has a painted concrete floor along with moulded dado and picture rails and a matchboard ceiling with a moulded cornice. A cast-iron fireplace on its west side has tiled insets and a bolection-mounded timber surround. Its east side has two four-panelled WC doors with bolection mouldings.

The three-bay section at the east end of the former parcels and goods office, probably the station master’s office, was opened out in the late C20 to form a buffet. It has a parquet floor, moulded dado rail, moulded cornice and matchboard ceiling. Placed beneath the three sashes on its south (platform) side are in-built cupboards and drawers beneath a sloping countertop. Its east side has a cast-iron fireplace with pyramidal corner blocks, tiled inserts, imitation marble surround, painted mantle shelf and a lintel bearing the initials of the Midland & Great Northern. To the right-hand side of the fireplace are high-level cupboards with panelled doors and to its left-hand side is a two-panelled, two-light door.

Adjoining the former stationmaster’s office is a further three-bay section, probably a waiting room, which also has a parquet floor, moulded dado rail, moulded cornice and matchboard ceiling. On its north side is a cast-iron fireplace with tiled jambs, imitation marble surround, painted mantle shelf and a lintel bearing the initials of the Midland & Great Northern.

To the west again is a section that was formerly open to the platform but was infilled in the late C20 to form a buffet. Its principal features of note are the cast-iron brackets with decorative pierced spandrels with foliate work that support the glazed platform canopy. Its east end has been opened out into the adjoining former gentlemen's toilet to accommodate a kitchen.

The GER office of 1906 is entered from platform side and roadside into a north-south aligned corridor with the main office itself entered through a heck door on its west side. It has plain plastered walls and ceilings with the only decorative feature being a moulded picture rail.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the M&GNJR engineer William Marriott took a particular interest in concrete as a building material and many items were manufactured at the company's works at Melton Constable during the early and mid-C20. A number of concrete structures still survive at Sheringham including two telegraph poles, one at each end of the main station building, and four lamp posts (lights now missing) at the west end of platform one.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 1 October 2025 to correct a typo in the description and to reformat the text to current standards

Sources

Books and journals
Simmons, J, Biddle, G, The Oxford Companion to British Railway History From 1603 to the 1990s (1997), 320-321
Joby, RS, Regional Railway Handbooks: No.2: East Anglia (1987), 31-33
Oppitz, L, East Anglia Railways Remembered (1989),
Cockman, FG, Discovering Lost Railways (1973), 62-66
Adderson, R, Kenworthy, G, Branch Lines Around Cromer (1998),

Websites
Information on Sheringham Station from the North Norfolk Railway website, accessed 28 July 2025 from https://nnrailway.co.uk/

Other
Railway News, 16 July 1887

End of official list entry