Lamb's Cottage railway station

Lamb's Cottage
Location
Place	Astley Green
Area	Wigan
Coordinates	53°28′18″N 2°26′19″W / 53.4718°N 2.4385°W / 53.4718; -2.4385Coordinates: 53°28′18″N 2°26′19″W / 53.4718°N 2.4385°W / 53.4718; -2.4385
Grid reference	SJ710973
Operations
Original company	Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Platforms	2 (probably)
History
15 September 1830	Station opened
October 1842	Station closed[1]
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
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Tyldesley Loopline
Legend
LNWR to Liverpool Lime Street Newton-le-Willows WCML to Warrington Bank Quay Lowton Parkside WCML to Wigan North Western Kenyon Junction Pennington Wigan NW via Plank Lane Bolton Gt Moor St via Chequerbent Glazebury & Bury Ln Flow Moss Leigh Wigan NW via Hindley Green Tyldesley Astley Lamb's Cottage Ellenbrook Barton Moss Bolton Gt Moor St via Walkden Low Level Worsley Monton Green Patricroft Bury via Clifton Hall Tunnel Eccles Jn Eccles LNWR to Manchester Victoria

Lamb's Cottage was a short-lived, original railway station on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to the southeast of Astley village in what was then the county of Lancashire, England. The station was 32 chains (0.64 km) east of what later became Astley station and in 2015 was Astley signal box and level crossing carrying Rindle Road.

History

Lamb's Cottage shows on the OS map surveyed in 1845 and published in 1848 at the point where a footpath running NW to SE crosses the railway.^[2] The footpath remained in place in 2015.

The station was in the general area of Chat Moss which was then very sparsely populated. It remained sparsely populated in 2015. A narrow gauge tramway can be seen on the 1848 map running north north west from the River Irwell at Boysnope, terminating at Lamb's Cottage station's eastern neighbour, Barton Moss (1st) station, shown on the map as "Barton Station". This tramway was part of an early scheme to bring in manure and human excrement to "improve" the Moss. Later schemes greatly expanded this enterprise,^[3] which had the intended effect of turning land from unproductive to very fertile.^[4]

In 1908 work started to sink Astley Green Colliery and to build a line southwards to the Liverpool to Manchester line to take its coal to customers. This involved using Stephenson's method of floating the ballast and tracks on wood and brush.^[5] The line was completed by 1914, making a triangular junction on Lamb's Cottage's station site, obliterating what little evidence remained.^[6] That line and junction continued in use until 1970 and has since been lifted.^[7]

Modern times

By 2015 no trace of the station survived. The Stephensons' masterpiece had been electrified and provided a service in their spirit.

References

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199. 
• Townley, C. H. A.; Appleton, C. A.; Smith, F. D.; Peden, J. A. (1995), The Industrial railways of Bolton, Bury and the Manchester Coalfield, Part Two, The Manchester Coalfield, Runpast, ISBN 1-870754-32-8 

External links

• The station via Disused Stations UK
• The station site on a 1948 OS Map via npe maps
• The station on an 1849 OS map via National Library of Scotland
• The station site on a 1888-1913 OS map via National Library of Scotland
• The line and mileages via railwaycodes
• The impact on lowland mires via DEFRA
• Chat Moss tramways via Unrecorded
• Chat Moss railways via Unrecorded