Pembridge Railway Station Opening

On the Leominster to Kington branch of the Hereford to Shrewsbury line, Pembridge station opened to freight in 1855 and to passengers two years later. It finally closed in 1964.
The railway was financed and developed by a company chaired by William Bateman-Hanbury, 2nd Baron Bateman, who lived at Shobdon Court. The first section from Leominster to Pembridge, via Kingsland, cost £7,000 per mile to construct. In today’s money that’s £634,000. That compares well with the cost of HS2 today at £300 million per mile.
Two years later it was extended to Kington, calling at Marston Halt and Titley Junction. Bateman later added a private station near to his home at Shobdon Court. The total cost of the line was £80,000, equivalent to £7.42 million in today’s money. 

Controversy At Pembridge

While railways were financed by private companies, they required an Act of Parliament to gain permission for their development. This was overseen by the Board of Trade which initially withheld certification of the line. The Act of Parliament had stipulated that the road should cross the railway via a bridge. Instead, the developers had installed a level crossing. Permission for the level crossing was eventually granted by a second Act of Parliament.

Grand Opening

On the opening day in 1857 some 1,500 passengers, paying 1s 6d (7.5p), boarded the 32 coaches which made the journey from Leominster to Kington. Stopping at each station for locals to see this new marvel, the journey took two and a half hours.
15,000 people turned up at Leominster to see the train leave and both Leominster and Kington celebrated with marching bands, sports, and much drinking for over two days.
On arrival at Kington the railway company directors and 300 guests lunched at the Oxford Arms Hotel. On returning to Leominster the same 300 dined at the Royal Oak.

The Impact Of The Railway On Pembridge People

Today most of us enjoy the freedom and possibilities of travel by car, train, boat, and plane. In the 1850s Pembridge was relatively cut off from the neighbouring towns and villages.
The only means of transport were by turnpike road, byways, or footpaths. For many in society walking was their only way of getting about. Farmers had to drive their animals to market, taking the whole day to get there and back. They might travel by pony and trap or on horseback. The better off may have a horse drawn carriage but the roads were not in good repair.

Potholes You Could Disappear In

The turnpike roads were maintained by flinging heaps of rough stones in the worst of the ruts and allowing the iron bound wheels of the passing vehicles to grind them in. The byways were rutted tracks, in winter quagmires of mud and filth, and in summer like sand along the seashore.
In her book, “Travels through England” Miss Celia Fiennes laments the state of the roads and says that the Herefordshire ones were the worst in the country. We may think the same could be said today.

New Possibilities

Poor transport confined  the market for the agricultural produce of Pembridge and the job and social opportunities of its inhabitants. The railway’s advent linked Pembridge to the nearby market towns of Leominster and Kington, and later Presteigne and Eardisley, opening markets for farm produce and greater possibilities for its people. A timetable from 1901, showed passenger trains ran through Pembridge six times per day in each direction.
By 1874 the journey from Leominster to Kington took 40 minutes. Hereford was 1 hour and 20 minutes and Shrewsbury 3 hours 30 minutes. By 1929 London could be reached in 6 hours via connecting services. Tony told us that in the 1950s his father-in-law regularly travelled to London in 3 and a half hours, which is less time than it takes today. Olga remembered a school trip to Windsor which took 4 hours each way, and Linda left Pembridge on her honeymoon  in 1953 bound for Blackpool.
Access to quick and affordable transport changed the lives and the loves of many villagers.