Bentley railway station (Suffolk)

Bentley railway station, also known as Bentley Junction between 1849 and 1878,[2] was located in Bentley, Suffolk on the Great Eastern Main Line. It had two through mainline platforms and an end bay at the country end of the down line to handle services on the Hadleigh branch. The bay could accommodate five coaches.[3]

Bentley
Location	Bentley, Babergh England
Grid reference	TM119368
Platforms	3
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Eastern Union Railway[1]
Pre-grouping	Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
15 Jun 1846	Opened[1]
7 Nov 1966	Closed

There were goods sidings on both the up and down sides of the station at the country or northern end and also sidings to a malthouse at the southern end of the station on the down side.[4]

Just to the North of the station was the branch line to Hadleigh.

It closed in 1966.

The mechanical signal box survived until June 1975 but was closed after the semaphore signals were converted to remotely controlled (by Colchester) colour light signals. Around the same time a locally based re-opening campaign had bee campaigning for the re-opening of the station.[5]

The site of the station is still clearly identifiable at the Station Road level crossing, and the former station building is now a private dwelling.

The railway farm

During 1916 the Great Eastern Railway ran a poultry demonstration trains throughout East Anglia often visiting towns on market day. The purpose of this train was to encourage self-sufficiency during the food shortages of the First World War. Encouraged by the reception this train got, the GER purchased Dodnash Priory Farm in Bentley, Suffolk as a poultry demonstration farm. The hen houses were built at Stratford Works and had individual works numbers. By 1920 the farm was producing 40,000 eggs per month for the GER as well as chickens, turkeys, fruit and vegetables for the GER hotels, restaurants, dining cars and buffets.[6]

Dodnash Priory also served as a rest home for GER horses. A siding about three quarters of a mile south of Bentley railway station on the down side served the farm.[7]

The farm survived into LNER days being sold in 1927 when the farmer reached 70 and retired. The siding had been removed in May 1925.[8]

References

1. 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 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
2. Mitchell, Vic (June 2011). Branch Lines to Harwich and Hadleigh. Midhurst: Middleton Press. plate 104. ISBN 978 1 908174 02 4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
3. Mitchell 2011, plate 103
4. Mitchell 2011, plan X
5. Hardinge, Graham (September 1975). "Bentley Developments". Ipswich Transport Journal (132).
6. Brooks, Mike (October 1982). "Great Eastern Railwayana: Part 8, The G.E.R. and Dodnash Priory Farm". Great Eastern Journal. Vol. 32. Great Eastern Railway Society. pp. 12, 13.
7. Moss, Chris (July 1992). "Photo caption - alternative motive power". Great Eastern Journal. Vol. 71. Great Eastern Railway Society. p. 31.
8. Watling, John (January 1997). "Dodnash Priory Farm (letter)". Great Eastern Journal. Vol. 89. Great Eastern Railway Society. p. 35.

External links

• Bentley station on navigable 1946 O. S. map

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Manningtree Line and station open		Great Eastern Railway Eastern Union Railway		Ipswich Line and station open
	Disused railways
Terminus		Great Eastern Railway Eastern Union and Hadleigh Junction Railway		Bentley Church Line and station closed