Brandon Railway Station

Brandon Railway Station

A railway station built between 1844 and 1845 to designs attributed to John Thomas, with extensions dating to the 1870s and 1880s.

The building is a single-storey structure running on an east-west axis, arranged in five sections that step back progressively from a central entrance to the former booking hall. A first floor was added to the easternmost section in the 1870s or 1880s. The walls are constructed of roughly-coursed knapped flint with grey-yellow gault brick dressings, and courses of brickwork and stone coping to the parapets (some later replaced by red brick). The roof is covered in Welsh slate.

The north elevation faces the car park and the south elevation faces the platform. Both elevations are arranged in five sections, each stepping back by approximately 0.5 metres from the central entrance bay. The central entrance bay features a pronounced gabled parapet with kneelers, containing a pointed arch window over a lean-to canopy supported by cast-iron brackets on moulded corbels. The canopy covering has been replaced by corrugated sheeting. The entrance bays on both elevations have a central two-leaf three-panelled door flanked by tall, narrow sash windows on each side, stepping back to wider six-over-six pane sash windows. The three-bay sections to the east and west contain three boarded windows with four-over-four pane sashes.

Six plain rectangular chimney stacks sit on the ridge line, all but one resting on a parapet over a dividing wall.

At the east end of the building, the original single-storey bay was extended in the 1870s or 1880s, presumably for station master's accommodation. This extension is of random-coursed knapped flint with courses of gault brick to the first floor. The east gable has a dentilled brick cornice to the eaves, two central horned sash windows and a stair window to the first floor, and three central sash windows to the ground floor, the centre one being wider. An inserted doorway on the north elevation of the eastern section appears to date from the 1870s or 1880s extension. A former door opening to the platform has been blocked, possibly in the late 19th century for privacy. A single-storey yellow brick extension with a pitched slate roof was added to the north elevation of the station master's house in the late 19th or early 20th century.

A cantilevered and corniced canopy originally hung from the three central sections and eastern section along the platform elevation, but was removed in the mid-20th century and 1980s, with the resulting cavity infilled with red Fletton brick.

A two-bay section was added to the west end of the building in the 1870s or 1880s, accessed via a door from the platform. Built of random-coursed knapped flint with gault brick dressings, its west gable features a chimney stack with three offsets.

The interior plan form appears to survive relatively intact. The former booking hall occupies the central section and retains timber panelling, particularly along its west wall. The east side of the booking hall has been partitioned to create an office and corridor, which runs east into the eastern section containing two rooms with fire openings (fireplaces removed). The single-bay section at the east end contains a single room on the ground floor with a removed fireplace. A door on the north wall provides access to a single-storey annex, presumably a former kitchen. A stair rises along the north wall to first floor accommodation added in the 1870s or 1880s. The section west of the former booking hall contains two rooms. The westernmost section, built in the 1870s or 1880s, is accessed from the platform and retains a plain late-19th century fireplace on its west wall.