Crossing House

SP93NW ASPLEY GUISE SALFORD ROAD 1846/1/10004 Crossing House II Railway crossing house. 1846 for the Bedford Railway. Rendered with mock timber framing and tile roof. Two storey gabled cottage in the picturesque' style purporting to be a late C16 timber framed house with a continuous jetty. Main gabled range with a single storey wing at right angles. The main range is one room deep with the gable end to the track. This has a metal casement on the ground floor and a possibly original cross framed casement above. Scalloped bargeboards. The elevation to right of this has a continuos jetty to carry the first floor which is divided into five rendered panels. Single storey wing with pointed arch gabled porch. No windows on the main range. The left hand elevation is also blind, again jet tied and with two external brick stacks with diapering on the tall shafts. Fish scale tile roof. Rear gable end has a cross framed casement below and a replacement timber casement above. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORY: This crossing house of 1846 is an unusually elaborate example of its type. IIt was built for the Bedford Railway which was a constituent of the London and Birmingham Railway, but by the time it opened on 17 November 1846 they had all become a part of the London and North Western Railway. The picturesque timber frame cottage design is a smaller version of the stations on the line several of which are listed. They were designed in this style to appease the Duke: of Bedford whose estate was crossed by the line. Source C Awdry, Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies, Robert Stephens, 1990, p60.

Listing NGR: SP9390236755