Stations that don't contain the name of a settlement, particularly termini

[Western Sunset]

The OS 25" map of 1875/76 shows that the only building near the ferry was Kyle-lochalsh House. Slightly further inland was Kyle Inn, with a handful of buildings adjacent to it. So was the name Kyle of Lochalsh coined by the railway?

 

[PG]

Long closed but Cruden Bay. The settlement was Port Errol. But there qas a Cruden Hotel and the station seems to have been named for that.
Its north of Aberdeen

These days Cruden Bay is the settlement but its school is called Port Errol.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The OS 25" map of 1875/76 shows that the only building near the ferry was Kyle-lochalsh House. Slightly further inland was Kyle Inn, with a handful of buildings adjacent to it. So was the name Kyle of Lochalsh coined by the railway?

You may be onto something here. Many locals still seem to refer to the place as just "Kyle" rather than "Kyle of Lochalsh". Perhaps the latter variation was a disambiguation of sorts, to distinguish it from other similarly named places in the area such as Kyleakin, Kylerhea, Kylesku and Kylestrome.

View map: Great Britain. Ordnance Survey, OS six-inch to the mile, 1st ed., Ross-shire & Cromartyshire (Mainland), Sheet CXXII - Ordnance Survey Six-inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1843-1882

 

[43010]

Dockyard, which serves Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth?

 

[Neil Polo]

There are probably relatively few stations on the mainline network as a whole just named after a road, though New Lane* as mentioned above is indeed one of those. Most of the "X Road" ones are just an older version of "X Parkway", i.e. "the nearest railway station to X but not in it" and may not even be on a road of that name. Some of those have furthermore *become* the name of a settlement as one has sprung up by the station (see places called "X Station" and "X Junction").

Far more such stations on the likes of London Underground though, where the "London" is somewhat implicit.

* Bescar Lane isn't; there's a settlement called Bescar it sort-of-serves-ish, so it's more like an "X Road" one.

Bescar Lane serves the settlement of Scarisbrick, where I live. It’s on Bescar Lane of course but I’ve never heard anyone refer to a settlement of Bescar. Is that something that existed before being subsumed into Scarisbrick?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Is there any actual settlement called Epsom Downs?

 

[scragend]

Bescar Lane serves the settlement of Scarisbrick, where I live. It’s on Bescar Lane of course but I’ve never heard anyone refer to a settlement of Bescar. Is that something that existed before being subsumed into Scarisbrick?

If you search Wikipedia for "Bescar" you get redirected to the page for Scarisbrick, which contains the sentence "The modern-day hamlets of Barrison Green, Bescar, Carr Cross, Drummersdale, Hurlston, Pinfold, and Snape Green were formed from the early farms and settlements that did arise in the area".

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you search Wikipedia for "Bescar" you get redirected to the page for Scarisbrick, which contains the sentence "The modern-day hamlets of Barrison Green, Bescar, Carr Cross, Drummersdale, Hurlston, Pinfold, and Snape Green were formed from the early farms and settlements that did arise in the area".

Bescar is a small place on the B5242 south of the station, marked on the OS map. New Lane isn't named from a settlement, though.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

My original point that prompted this thread was that for National Rail services, Headbolt Lane is the only terminus station that I can think of that does not include the name if the settlement/airport/shopping centre/etc where it is situated. I have no objections to calling points being named after local roads or pubs, but a a train’s final destination gives an idea of roughly what direction it is travelling in, where it will probably stop at the way and how long it will take to get there. Most people on Merseyside have no idea where Headbolt Lane is, let alone the citizens of Manchester, but will likely know roughly where the town of Kirkby is situated.

In practice, I'm not sure that would make much difference. People will very quickly get used to the idea that, if you want to go to Kirkby then the train you want is the Headbolt Lane one. In the same way that people just learn that if you want to go to - say - Rock Ferry, then you need either a Chester or an Ellesmere Port train without necessarily understanding the geography. In my experience, a surprising number of people really don't have any maps-eye sense of overall geography, so they really don't know which towns are near which other towns, but instead navigate by simply being familiar with the routes they go along, following directions on Google streetview, or simply remembering that it's the train to X that they need. For those kinds of people, the fact that the station is called Headbolt Lane rather than something like Kirkby East or Kirkby Headbolt Lane will make no difference (Although I do agree that Headbolt Lane is an astonishingly silly, uninformative, name for the station).

 

[Dr_Paul]

Yes, there are a surprising number of stations with 'Road' as a suffix which are not, GWR-style, indicative of a slightly distant place, with the consequence that non-locals will have no idea where they are. Chassen Road is particularly obscure. Likewise, because the names are quite common and could be anywhere, there are Navigation Road and as you say, Hall Road, and many others.

Wandsworth Road on the South London Line is one of those. It's certainly not in Wandsworth, a couple of miles to the west; the nearest settlement is Clapham (the Old Town is about half a mile away, much the same distance as the next station on the SLL, Clapham High Road), and it's certainly a lot closer to there than Clapham Junction. Anyone wishing to go to Wandsworth would go to Wandsworth Town, which is a 10-minute walk from the town centre.

Dduallt on the Ffestiniog. No settlement just the unused station house which I think is a bat sanctuary now and an old barn on the hill above the deviation.

I think Dduallt translates into English as Black Plain. I wonder if this name may have predated the railway; I've seen other remote places called Dduallt on OS maps.

The Soviet Union Metro stations were often named after something of interest to the politicians but quite unconnected. Every city Metro seems to have a Chkalovskaya. Chkalov was a pioneering aviator hero back in Soviet times, and long before the station in question was built.

I imagine that some stations on Soviet Metro lines needed to be renamed if the person after whom the station was named fell out of favour with the Kremlin. Presumably Chkalov didn't suffer that fate.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

I think Dduallt translates into English as Black Plain. I wonder if this name may have predated the railway; I've seen other remote places called Dduallt on OS maps.

Black slope would be a better translation. A bit lilke the eskimo words for snow Welsh has dozens of words meaning hill and mountain!

Being pedantic, strictly speaking the name shoud either be "Duallt" or "Y Dduallt" since the "Dd" is a soft mutation following the definite article.

 

[zwk500]

Wandsworth Road on the South London Line is one of those. It's certainly not in Wandsworth, a couple of miles to the west; the nearest settlement is Clapham (the Old Town is about half a mile away, much the same distance as the next station on the SLL, Clapham High Road), and it's certainly a lot closer to there than Clapham Junction. Anyone wishing to go to Wandsworth would go to Wandsworth Town, which is a 10-minute walk from the town centre.

Wandsworth Road station is so named because it is on the Wandsworth road (now the A3036), which will take you nearly all the way to that part of London.

Of course, it's a relatively easy change at Clapham Junction should you want to take the train to Wandsworth from Wandsworth Road station.

 

[Dr_Paul]

My favourite name in this category is the now closed Central on the Galleons branch in East London. To be fair, it was halfway along the Royal Albert Dock, but it did look look rather vague at first sight. It's a shame that the Dockland Light Railway didn't revive this name as it did with some of the other stations in that area.

Black slope would be a better translation. A bit like the eskimo words for snow Welsh has dozens of words meaning hill and mountain! Being pedantic, strictly speaking the name should either be "Duallt" or "Y Dduallt" since the "Dd" is a soft mutation following the definite article.

Thanks for that. An interesting one is Ratgoed near Corris. When I was staying near Dolgellau I asked a neighbour what it meant; he said that the back end of the name was wood (goed, from coed), but was baffled by the first half. I later discovered in a book on the Corris Railway that it was a corruption of Yr Alltgoed. Whether this was the work of a cloth-eared Englishman, it didn't say. There are some pictures here.

 

[vlad]

Rose Hill station is a terminus that doesn't contain a place name - I think it's named after a house that doesn't exist any more.

I appreciate it's also known as Rose Hill Marple but the boards at the station and displays on some of the trains don't agree with that.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Thanks for that. An interesting one is Ratgoed near Corris. When I was staying near Dolgellau I asked a neighbour what it meant; he said that the back end of the name was wood (goed, from coed), but was baffled by the first half. I later discovered in a book on the Corris Railway that it was a corruption of Yr Alltgoed. Whether this was the work of a cloth-eared Englishman, it didn't say. There are some pictures here.

Interisting! The way names change as they flip between languages is both fascinating and natural. What we need to avoid is to act as language purists on either side and instead enjoy the results of the "cloth eared"!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Rose Hill station is a terminus that doesn't contain a place name - I think it's named after a house that doesn't exist any more.

Think you're right. Rosehill House, which I believe dated back to 1820, looks to be the only noteworthy building in the vicinity of the station, in the below-linked late Victorian era OS map. (Location of Rosehill station is in the upper middle/left part of the map).

View map: Ordnance Survey, Cheshire XX (includes: Disley; Marple; New Mills.) - Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952

 

[leytongabriel]

The old Great Eastern Branches in the London area seem to do this.
Wood St. on the Chingford Branch wasn't really a place name when the station opened but the area has become known as such.
Theolbalds Grove and Turkey St. aren't places and not madly helpful as names, neither are Silver Street or Rectory Road.
White Hart Lane,and St James St like Wood St. are old throughfares, rather than places.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Think you're right. Rosehill House, which I believe dated back to 1820, looks to be the only noteworthy building in the vicinity of the station, in the below-linked late Victorian era OS map. (Location of Rosehill station is in the upper middle/left part of the map).

View map: Ordnance Survey, Cheshire XX (includes: Disley; Marple; New Mills.) - Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952

I always assumed that area of Marple was called that, but thanks for correcting me. It is a useful name though, as it gives a pretty good impression of which way round the two stations are - Rose Hill is on the hill, Marple (Bridge) is at the bottom!

 

[Taunton]

I imagine that some stations on Soviet Metro lines needed to be renamed if the person after whom the station was named fell out of favour with the Kremlin. Presumably Chkalov didn't suffer that fate.

Yes, that was fairly constant all round, leading to the conundrum that Stalingrad, the city, is now renamed Volgograd, being on the river Volga, while Stalingrad Metro station in Paris, renamed from Aubervilliers in 1945 in the city's honour, has kept its name. The city, originally Tsaritsyn, got renamed in 1925 now the Tsar's were out of fashion, and again in 1959 once Stalin's exploits were, to use the Russian expression, "revealed". Naming it after the river presumably makes it exempt from further political tinkering.

Notably the now well known, fully Soviet "peasants and workers" era, artworks and slogans on the Moscow Metro have not been chiselled off the walls, and are now regarded as a significant cultural icon and tourist attraction. It probably helps that most visitors do not understand the Cyrillic character slogans.

 

[norbitonflyer]

But if you were visiting any one of those cities you would stay on the train to take you there (or have missed the stop), you would not get off the train to visit any of them

I realise there may be an itinerary where someone comes from the south on a train bound for Derby but change for one going to Nottingham (or vice versa), but not many cases I do not think.

Even then East Midlands Parkway is not the destination for most people visiting the East Midlands.

I've changed there when traveling from Lincoln to Corby.

 

[Dr_Paul]

The old Great Eastern Branches in the London area seem to do this. Wood St. on the Chingford Branch wasn't really a place name when the station opened but the area has become known as such. Theolbalds Grove and Turkey St. aren't places and not madly helpful as names, neither are Silver Street or Rectory Road. White Hart Lane,and St James St like Wood St. are old throughfares, rather than places.

I think that Turkey Street was a place, rather than just a street name, prior to the arrival of the railway. This map from 1866 shows the name in a larger font size than street names, which suggests that it was a settlement name. What's now Turkey Street station was called Forty Hill when it was opened in 1891, as on this map from 1914. The name Turkey Street has long intrigued me (along with the neighbouring Freezy Water), apparently it's a corruption of a local landowner's name, Tuckey.