Low Level Station

Low Level Station

Railway station built in 1853–4 and designed by John Fowler for the Worcester, Oxford and Wolverhampton Railway, the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway and the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway. The station was enlarged in 1869 and altered in 1899 and 1933–34.

The main station building is constructed of blue engineering bricks with ashlar dressings and features, beneath slate roofs. The original design was symmetrical and Italianate in style. The centrepiece comprises a 2-storey, 5-bay central block with a single-storey, 7-bay wing set back to either side, each wing terminated by a projecting 2-storey, 3-bay pavilion with a hipped roof. After 1869, the north-west wing was heightened to 2 storeys.

The facade of the central block has a 3-bay centre that breaks forward beneath a pediment pierced by a lunette window. The bays are defined by rusticated stone pilasters with a top frieze and cornice, and a 1st floor sill band. Three central round-arched entrances to the booking hall feature moulded architraves, keystones and radial-bar fanlights. Flanking these are paired round-headed windows with bracketed sills and cornices. The 1st floor contains 3 round-headed windows in stone frames with consoled stone pediments; the flanking bays have paired round-headed windows with pediments. Return lateral stacks are present.

The bays of the side wings are defined by rusticated stone pilasters and stone-coped brick parapets. The wider central bay to each wing contains a carriage-way entry with an archivolt on imposts and a vermiculated keystone; the remaining bays contain windows with eared architraves on bracketed sills. A moulded corbel on each pilaster of the wings and central block supported a former external canopy. The end pavilions have 1st floor sill bands, top friezes and cornices with blocking courses stepped up to the centre, stone quoins, and framed arched windows under consoled pediments. Similar windows to the 1st floor have keystones rather than pediments. Return lateral stacks are present; all stacks were restored in the late 1980s. The 1853 windows contain timber casements or fixed lights, with vertical external metal bars to some ground floor windows. Later windows are sashed with glazing bars, though most were boarded at the time of resurvey in 1990.

The interior features a full-height booking hall in the central block with a 2-storey elevation. Paired Doric pilasters at the lower level and paired Ionic pilasters above define bays containing arched openings with keystones. The left side of the hall is now blocked off and its architectural detail has been mutilated. A coved ceiling with roof lights is present. The platform elevation has a brick plinth with doors and windows to waiting rooms, a restaurant and offices featuring Italianate details. Some original features survive in several rooms.

The station was originally served by mixed broad and standard gauge tracks, but broad gauge was eliminated after 1869. A length of broad gauge track remains visible at the north end of the platform. Three K6 type telephone call boxes stand on the platform.

The Great Western Railway platform and tracks were originally covered by a glazed roof, which was replaced after 1930 by platform verandahs on cast-iron columns. Subsequently, the platforms were linked by a bridge with luggage lifts installed in 1933–34.

The station was a terminus for the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway. Passenger rail services ceased in 1972.