Kirby Park railway station

Former railway station in England

Birkenhead Railway
London Midland Region (British Railways)

Key dates1 October 1894Opened5 July 1954Closed to passengers17 September 1956Closed to school traffic7 May 1962Closed to freight

Kirby Park railway station was a station on the single track Hooton to West Kirby branch of the Birkenhead Railway, on the Wirral Peninsula, England.

History

The Birkenhead Railway, owned jointly by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and North Western Railway (LNWR), had initially opened a branch line from Hooton to Parkgate in 1866. An extension to West Kirby was completed twenty years later^[1] although Kirby Park station did not open until 1 October 1894.^[1]^[2] It was named after Kirby Park, the area surrounding the house Kirbymount, formerly the summer residence of John Hurleston Leche XV of Carden.

Originally considered an experimental station,^[1] it was constructed primarily of timber 800 m (870 yd) to the south of the current West Kirby railway station and served largely as a school stop for the nearby Calday Grange Grammar School.

Closure

Kirby Park railway station closed before most of the stations on the line on 5 July 1954, however for school purposes it remained open until 1956. The track continued to be used for freight transportation and driver training for another six years, closing on 7 May 1962.^[1]^[2] The line was lifted two years later with the station building and platform completely demolished.^[1] The only evidence that a station stood on this site is the entrance on Sandy Lane in West Kirby.

Wirral Country Park

The route became the Wirral Way footpath and part of Wirral Country Park in 1973, which was the first such designated site in Britain.^[1]^[3]^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Disused Stations: Kirby Park, Subterranea Britannica, retrieved 21 November 2008
^ ^a ^b Maund, T.B. (2000), The Birkenhead Railway, The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, pp. 44, 69, ISBN 0-901115-87-8
^ Wirral Country Park, Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, archived from the original on 30 October 2008, retrieved 21 November 2008
^ Wirral Country Park, Visit Liverpool, retrieved 21 November 2008