Ledsham railway station

Ledsham railway station was on the Chester and Birkenhead Railway near Little Sutton and about a mile from the hamlet of Ledsham on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, England. The station was originally named 'Sutton' but renamed Ledsham on the opening of the Hooton to Helsby branch to avoid confusion with the newly built station named Little Sutton. The station opened on 23 September 1840 at the same time as the railway line, and was closed on 20 July 1959 due to a decline in passenger numbers.

Ledsham
LocationLedsham, Cheshire West and Chester
England
Platforms4
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyChester and Birkenhead Railway
Pre-groupingBirkenhead Joint Railway
Post-groupingBirkenhead Joint Railway
Key dates
23 September 1840 (1840-09-23)Station opened
20 July 1959 (1959-07-20)Station closed

In October 1839, Sutton was the scene of a serious riot. On completion of the works a gang of Irish navvies working from the Birkenhead end met with a gang of English & Welsh navvies working from the Chester end when the contractors' wages clerk for the Irish gang made off with the pay for his men. Violent fighting between the two gangs ensued over two days involving some 2,000 men; military were sent from Liverpool and Chester, including a piece of ordnance from Chester, and 28 rioters were jailed.

In 1891, the track from Ledsham Junction (half a mile south of the station) to Rock Ferry was quadrupled and Ledsham Station acquired four platforms. After the station closed the quadruple track was reduced to double in the 1970s. Two remaining platforms were in existence until the 1990s when they were demolished to accommodate a new road bridge which was built on the realignment of the A550. The double track through the station site now forms part of the Wirral Line to Chester, operated by Merseyrail.[1]

Services
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Capenhurst
Line and station open		   GWR & LNWR
Chester and Birkenhead Railway		   Hooton
Line and station open

References
  1. Wright, Paul (20 April 2010). "Disused Stations: Ledsham Station". Disused Stations. Subterranea Britannica. Retrieved 12 August 2010.

Further reading
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2012). Chester to Birkenhead. Middleton Press. figs. 27-28. ISBN 9781908174215. OCLC 811323335.


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