Shrub Hill Railway Station

Shrub Hill Railway Station

A railway station constructed in 1852 and rebuilt in 1865 to the designs of Edward Wilson, engineer for the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway.

The station is built from blue brick laid in English bond with Bath stone dressings, supplemented by red brick to secondary elevations. The basement arcade is constructed from red brick with stucco render. The roof is slate throughout.

The railway runs north to south through Shrub Hill, with the station building positioned to the west of the tracks. The structure comprises a long, roughly rectangular range standing on elevated ground. It is approached from the west by curved ramps on either side, which frame a sunken forecourt containing an arcade giving access to basement-level storage units.

The main building is a classical composition of one and two storeys. The two-storey central range is symmetrically arranged with 4:1:3:1:4 bays articulated by rusticated quoins and pilasters. A porte cochere stands in front of the central section. Window openings throughout feature flat-arched moulded stone architraves, with scroll consoles and cornices to the outer bays at ground floor level and pediments to the single bays. Windows are six-over-six sashes on the ground floor and three-over-three on the upper storey. The plinth, cill band, string course and cornice are all dressed stone, creating a striking contrast with the blue brick. The main range is topped by a hipped slate roof with several brick chimneystacks. The porte cochere has five pitched glazed bays to its roof, supported by cast iron Tuscan columns and finished with a dagger-board fascia. Three wide openings lead to the booking hall: two windows with eight-over-eight sashes and a double doorway fitted with six-panelled timber doors.

Flanking the main range are single-storey sections with plainer detailing and simple stone dressings and brick banding. A brick parapet conceals their roofs. The platform-facing elevations of these flanking sections rise to two storeys, having originally supported the glazed roof crossing the tracks. They feature lunette windows with radial metal-framed glazing. Double-height screen walls extend either side of the flanking ranges, punctuated by gated openings with fanlights.

Curving vehicle access ramps create the sunken forecourt before the station. This contains a 1:9:1 bay arcade serving the basement-level storage, with round-arched openings finished in moulded stucco. A stone string course runs above, with the elevation rising beyond to form the balustrade to the roadway and porte cochere. A pair of cast-iron lamps on the parapet wall were manufactured by Revo of Tipton.

The platform-facing elevation is of red brick with a matchboarded dado. A series of openings with moulded architraves provide access to the booking hall and ancillary accommodation, including surviving four-panel doors and eight-over-eight sashes. The platform canopy was installed after the glazed roof structure spanning the platforms and tracks was removed in 1938. It comprises riveted iron posts with axial and cross trusses. Two overbridges connect the platforms: one positioned roughly centrally and a second goods bridge at the northern end. The central bridge has solid panelled balustrades, with a pitched roof structure and iron trusses presumed to date from the 1930s. It is reached by stairs with broad moulded handrails and cast iron newels, though the balustrades have since been infilled. The goods bridge, restored in 2021, features an iron lattice balustrade replicating the original design and is covered by a pitched roof.

Within the original booking hall, part of the stone-flagged floor survives. Several offices retain plaster cornices, picture rails, panelled reveals to door openings and moulded architraves. A K8 telephone box on Platform 1, listed separately at Grade II, forms part of the station's heritage.