Hatch End Railway Station

Researched and written by David Clifford.

Hatch End Railway Station serves the village of Hatch End in Greater within the . The station serves commuters south into Euston and north to Junction on the suburban line called the .

Various publications and web-sites are uncertain about the official opening date. The Victoria County History states 18441; Historic ’s Pastscape website gives the date as 18422; while Bradshaw first includes in the 1844 edition.3 Scott however, suggests Pinner probably opened on 8 August 1842 as the Coaching and Police Committee minutes of 15 February 1843 mentions passenger booking arrangements from Pinner.4 Scott’s assertion is that Pinner opened on the same day of Sudbury Station (now known as Wembley Central) as both were financed and built at the same time.5

The railway company that operated the line at the time of opening was the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR). The L&BR was merged in to London and North Western Railway in 1846 (hence the L&NWR inscription on the 1911 building.) The L&NWR was merged into a larger group in 1923 and became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. In 1948 the railway groups were nationalised and became British Railways.6

Throughout its existence the station has gone through several name changes. Before the station opened it was known as Dove House Bridge. On opening it was called Pinner. It was renamed Pinner and Hatch End on 1 January 1897; Hatch End (For Pinner) on 1 February 1920; and Hatch End on 11 June 1956.7

1. Diane K Bolton, H P F King, Gillian Wyld and D C Yaxley. "Harrow, including Pinner : Suburban development," in A History of the County of : Volume 4, Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood With Southall, Hillingdon With Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow With Pinner, ed. T F T Baker, J S Cockburn and R B Pugh (London: Victoria County History, 1971), 198-203. British History Online, accessed August 1, 2019, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol4/pp198-203.

2. “Hatch End Station,” Historic England, accessed July 31, 2019, https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=509344&sort=4&search=all&criteria=hatch%20end&rational =q&recordsperpage=10.

3. Bradshaws railway companion containing the times of departure fares, &c. of the railways of Great Britain and Ireland, and also Hackney coach fares from the principle railway stations illustrated with maps of the country through which the railways pass and plans of London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, and Manchester. (Fleet Street, London: D Bogue, 1844), 11. https://archive.org/details/1844Bradshawtt/page/n11.

4. London and Birmingham Railway’s Coaching and Police Committee minutes of 15 February 1843, quoted in Peter G Scott, The London and Birmingham railway through Harrow: 1837-1987 (London: London Borough of Harrow, 1987), 27.

5. Scott, 28.

6. “London, Midland and Scottish Railway.” Grace’s Guide, accessed July 31, 2019, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/London,_Midland_and_Scottish_Railway.

7. Peter G Scott, The London and Birmingham railway through Harrow: 1837-1987 (London: London Borough of Harrow, 1987), 27-28.

1 There is little detail on the design and layout of the original station structure. An undated postcard from the Chambers private postcard collection shows a partial view of the pre- 1911 station8. In 1911 the station was rebuilt and the main building still exists today.

The major feature of the station is the entrance and booking hall that has been Grade II listed since 16 February 1982 (list no. 1285713 and titled ‘Entrance Block of Hatch End Railway station’). This entrance and booking hall replaced the previous structure. The Grade II listing describes the entrance block as designed in ‘1911 by Gerald C Horsley for London and North Western Railway. Symmetrically composed. Red brick with stone dressings. Two arches to ground-storey with central sashed window and large decorative crest over. Left hand arch has doors with window over. Right hand arch is fully glazed above stone plinth. Channelled pilaster quoins with dentil cornice. Tile roof surmounted by pedimented cupola with inset clock. Single-storey, irregular wings to right and left.’9

The two L&BR lines were opened in 1837 and over the next 70 years more lines were added as demand and congestion grew along the route. L&NWR added a third line in around 1858 to relieve congestion on the local line. A fourth line arrived in about 1875. Finally, the fifth and sixth lines arrived in 1911 and formed the 'New Line' suburban service from Euston to Watford, with the other four lines serving main line trains.10 It is not known (at least within this research) when Hatch End gained the two island platforms that enabled access to all six lines.

There were two island platforms and two single platforms on the near and far sides. The four main line platforms were closed on 7 January 1963. There was also a second entrance, which no longer exists, that ran between numbers 3 and 5, The Avenue.11

There was also the Hatch End Goods Yard, originally called Pinner Siding, which was closer to Headstone Lane. This siding was closed on 14 November 1966 and replaced by light industrial development.12

The station as it is today has two platforms. Platform 1 (via a covered footbridge) serves Euston to the south and Platform 2 (on the same side as the ticket hall) serves Watford to the north. The Overground London-Euston line runs parallel to the West Coast Main Line. Platform 1 occupies half of one platform island with the other side fenced off. The second island platform only exists as a base with no station structures left and is inaccessible.

As of August 2019, Hatch End Station is in travel zone 6 and has a booking hall with a gate- line (ticket barrier); a booking office; two self-service ticket machines (of different types);

8. D Chambers postcard collection as reproduced in Scott, 134.

9. “Entrance block of Hatch End Railway Station,” Historic England, accessed July 31, 2019, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1285713.

10 Scott, 45.

11 Peter G Scott, The London and Birmingham railway through Harrow: 1837-1987 (London: London Borough of Harrow, 1987), 45, 133, 138.

12 Scott, 129.

2 and a car-park with a ticket machine with the ability to pay online, by app, phone, text, and by the outside self-service kiosk. There is a small hut for a local taxi service.

Inside the booking hall and beyond the ticket barrier is the 'Hatch End 2000 The Millennium Map' engraved onto metal. This map highlights the major features and history of the local area. On platform 1 is a map showing the route of section 15 (Hatch End to ) of the London Outer Orbital Path (otherwise known as the London LOOP).

Platform 1 has open air cycle storage, exterior seating, and a dot-matrix indicator board. Platform 2 has a waiting room with seating, exterior seating, and a dot-matrix indicator board.

One consequence of the station and subsequent housing development has been to shift the physical location of the village of Hatch End by about one mile to the west from its original location. The original location of Hatch End is now known as Headstone Lane and is served by Headstone Lane Railway Station on the same Overground network.

Bibliography Bradshaws railway companion containing the times of departure fares, &c. of the railways of Great Britain and Ireland, and also Hackney coach fares from the principle railway stations illustrated with maps of the country through which the railways pass and plans of London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, and Manchester. Fleet Street, London: D Bogue, 1844. https://archive.org/details/1844Bradshawtt/page/n11.

Bolton, Diane K, H P F King, Gillian Wyld and D C Yaxley. "Harrow, including Pinner : Suburban development," in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4, Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood With Southall, Hillingdon With Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow With Pinner, ed. T F T Baker, J S Cockburn and R B Pugh (London: Victoria County History, 1971), 198-203. British History Online, accessed August 1, 2019, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol4/pp198-203.

“Entrance block of Hatch End Railway Station.” Historic England, accessed July 31, 2019, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1285713,

“Hatch End Station.” Historic England, accessed July 31, 2019, https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=509344&sort=4&search=all&criteria=hatc h%20end&rational=q&recordsperpage=10.

“London, Midland and Scottish Railway.” Grace’s Guide, accessed July 31, 2019, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/London,_Midland_and_Scottish_Railway.

Scott, Peter G. The London and Birmingham railway through Harrow: 1837-1987. London: London Borough of Harrow, 1987.

3 Technical photographic and textual information Photograph taken on Apple iPhone 6S; camera lens focal length: 4.2mm (35mm equivalent: 29mm); aperture f2.2; shutter speed 1/3800; Auto White Balance; ISO 25; Format: JPEG. File size: 779kb. No external lens used. File name: Hatch_End_001_2019.jpg. File resolution 72 pixels. Dimensions 3451x2571 pixels. Taken with the Moment app and cropped using the Darkroom app – both downloaded from the Apple App Store.

Text written in 2019 in Byword, formatted in Microsoft Office Word, and saved and uploaded as a Portable Document Format (PDF). Typeface: Calibri. The referencing uses the Chicago referencing system of footnotes followed by a bibliography (though the footnotes don’t strictly follow the system). Uploaded onto the Layers of London website on 5 August, 2019.

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