Stockton & Darlington Railway station needs restoration before its bicentenary year

Monday, February 26, 2024

The world’s oldest railway station needs £500,000 to be restored before the bicentenary year celebrations of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, campaigners have said.

Heighington station, in Durham, is where Locomotion No 1, designed by George Stephenson, was placed on the track before its first journey in 1825.

The Grade II* listed station was commissioned in 1826 and remained in use until the 1970s. It was restored and opened as a pub in 1984, but has been closed since 2017.

The Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway estimate that £500,000 is needed to buy and restore the building, £400,000 of which they estimate can be raised through grant applications.

Niall Hammond, the chairman of the Friends, said: “It is where Locomotion No 1 was first placed on the tracks, it is where three boys became its first passengers, and it is the world’s first railway station – the cobbles outside it may well be the world’s first railway platform.

“All these things make it incredibly historically important, which is why it is a Grade II* listed building and so is among the top eight per cent of most important buildings in the country.

“In terms of the bicentenary celebrations for which so much is being planned in Durham, Darlington and Stockton, its current condition is a blot on our collective endeavours, and Historic England have recently added it to their Heritage At Risk Register.

“It is a key location on the route of the planned Stockton & Darlington Railway cycle and footpath, and it could provide a completely different experience for the visitor if it is turned into a Georgian-themed railway inn.”

Mr Hammond said the building “should be an object of pride to local people and the businesses around it that their forefathers were involved in something revolutionary that changed the world.

He added: “This is a great way for people to get involved – even just signing our online petition, which will cost nothing but could be very important, will show the size of local support to potential funders.

“We have to do something. It would be such an embarrassment if, in 2025, this building of international importance still stands there rotting away.”

The building was one of three commissioned by the railway in 1826, before the modern concept of a station had developed, as a place for passengers to wait and for goods to be dropped off.

The first phase of the campaign is to acquire the building and stabilise it.

The second and longer-term phase is to bring it back into economic and community use, perhaps as an 1825 pub or restaurant with accommodation.

“It is in a shocking state,” said Paul Howell, the Sedgefield MP. “When I worked nearby at Perstorp-Warerite in the late 1980s, that was our place for a drink at the end of the day, and so it is sad to see it as it is.

“It is proper history and it really should be in a condition to take part in the bicentenary celebrations, so the Friends have my full backing and support.”

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