Havenstreet railway station building

Summary

The railway station building incorporates a combined signal box and booking office with an adjoining waiting room and passenger facilities. It was designed to be single-manned by a combined Porter-Signalman. It was built in 1926 for the Southern Railway soon after taking over the line from Ryde and Newport. The station and line closed in 1966 and was reopened in 1971 as part of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.

Reasons for Designation

Havenstreet railway station building, built in 1926 as a combined signal box and booking office with attached waiting room, Isle of Wight, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the exterior survives well, including its large metal frame windows, applied timber decoration to the rendered panels and sweeping, hipped roof;

* it retains a good proportion of original internal fabric and fixtures which illustrate the building’s plan and functions including the lever frame, booking counter and ticket window.

Historic interest:

* it was built soon after the establishment of the Southern Railway, the integration of the signal-box function into the station building illustrating economies in the post-grouping period as well as the operational requirements of small rural stations.

History

The Ryde and Newport Railway was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1872. It was largely financed by the company chairman George Young, a businessman originally from London, who owned nearby West Ashey Farm. Construction began in 1873, and following delays, the Ryde to Newport railway line opened in December 1875. The single-platform Haven Street station opened the following year. Soon after the opening, a single-storey weatherboard-clad shelter structure with a pitched-roof signal box attached to its south-east end was added to the station. In 1886, a gasworks was built by John Rylands to the south of the station and a siding was provided for the delivery of coal. In 1887 the Ryde & Newport Railway was amalgamated with the Cowes and Newport, and Isle of Wight (Newport Junction) Railways to form the Isle of Wight Central Railway.
The Railways Act of 1921 saw the grouping of the country’s railway companies into four regional companies. The Isle of Wight Central Railway became part of the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923. In July 1926 a new crossing loop was installed at Haven Street and a new island platform created. The original station building and platform were demolished, and a replacement building and platform were added further to the north-east with access to the island platform via a foot crossing.

The building incorporated the operational facilities required at a station with a combined signal box, booking office at the south-east end, a waiting room and a set of toilets at the north-west end (possibly added slightly later). The station was designed to be single-manned by a Porter-Signalman; the partition between the signal box and waiting rooms included a ticket window used by the station staff member to sell tickets. While the combination of signalling facilities into station buildings did occur before the early C20, particularly at small stations, such economy enabling the closure of conventional signal boxes, was more often seen post-grouping, and more usual for the Southern Railway in the 1930s.

Upon the nationalisation of the railway network following the Transport Act of 1947, the Southern Railway became part of the Southern Region of British Railways. In 1958 the station was renamed Havenstreet. The line and station closed on 21 February 1966.

The Isle of Wight Steam Railway re-opened part of the former Ryde to Newport line in 1971 and restored the Havenstreet station building for use as its headquarters. Subsequently, other surrounding land and buildings were acquired, including the former gasworks retort house, which was converted for use as a museum. Existing station furniture was restored, and additional structures and buildings were brought in from elsewhere or newly constructed, such as the food kiosk attached to the rear.These items are not included in the listing. Restoration of the station building included refitting original signage. In 2022, a programme of repair works to the station building was undertaken including replastering the ceilings, refurbishing the toilets, and repairing the tile roof and the building frontage.

Details

Railway station building incorporating a combined signal box and booking office, with adjoining waiting room and passenger facilities. Constructed in 1926 for the Southern Railway soon after taking over the line from Ryde and Newport. Closed in 1966. Reopened in 1971 as part of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.

MATERIALS: English-bond brick construction with exposed-aggregate concrete panels and applied timber decoration. The roof is covered with clay tiles.

PLAN: an L-shaped building with the projecting signal-box room at the south-east end, a central range containing the waiting and ladies’ rooms, a flat-roof toilet block at the north-west end.

EXTERIOR: the single-storey station building is in a broadly Vernacular-revival style with consistent treatment to the elevations comprising an exposed brick plinth with rendered panels and decorative timber above, topped by a hipped roof with slightly swept eaves and a brick stack on the roof’s rear slope. The principal south-west elevation faces the railway and has an off-centre entrance, originally in a larger opening infilled in the mid-C20, with a planked door flanked by a pair of multi-pane windows. To the left is a large multi-pane three-light casement window. To the north-west is the flat-roof toilet block with a separate entrance and pair of casement windows on the north-west elevation. At the south-east end of the building is the projecting signal box bay which has multi-pane two and three-light casement windows in the front elevation and side returns to allow observation. There is a small mid-C20 brick lean-to attached to the south-east elevation which covers the side entrance to the signal box. Signage and information boards have been refurbished as part of the late-C20 restoration of the building, replica posters have been affixed to the information boards.

INTERIOR: the signal box room retains the original mechanical lever frame, booking counter, cupboards, and a safe, as well as shelving and a bench, and ticket case. Some related signal control machinery, including the two token instruments which service the separate lines, have been added since 1971 to ensure the safe control of trains. There is a wood-block floor and a slightly raised wooden platform in front of the lever frame. The partition between the signal box room and the waiting room includes a shuttered ticket window through which tickets were sold. At the centre of the building is a waiting room with a quarry-tile floor, walls with framed panels, and a long timber bench. Throughout the building are planked doors, some of which may have been replaced. To the west is a separate room which was formerly the ladies’ room, a later toilet inserted on one side and the tile floor has been replaced. At the north-west end is the flat-roofed ladies’ and gentlemen’s toilet block; the gentlemen’s is accessed externally from a door in the north-west elevation; the wall tiling and toilet furniture were fitted in the 2020s. The building’s plaster ceilings were replaced in the 2020s.

Sources

Books and journals
The Signalling Study Group, , The Signal Box: A Pictorial History and Guide to Designs (1986), 74

Websites
Disused Stations: Havenstreet , accessed 2 July 2025 from http://disused-stations.org.uk/h/havenstreet/index9.shtml
Isle of Wight Steam Railway 150th anniversary Ryde Newport Railway Open, accessed 2 July 2025 from https://iwsteamrailway.co.uk/heritage/key-railway-anniversaries/150th-anniversary-ryde-newport-railway-opens/
Signal Box, Havenstreet Station, Isle of Wight, accessed 15 July 2025 from https://victorianweb.org/technology/railways/iow/signal.html

Other
Information panels, Isle of Wight Steam railway museum displays, visited 9 July 2025
BF006780, Haven Street Station, Buildings File, held in Historic England archive
1056 - MIW1108 Havenstreet Railway Station, Isle of Wight County Archaeology and Historic Environment Service Monument Full Report

End of official list entry