Waiting Rooms Immediately South West Of Crediton Station Main Range

The waiting rooms located immediately southwest of Crediton Station are a mid-19th century railway station building, likely constructed in 1862 for the London and South Western Railway, although it may have origins dating back to 1851 for the Exeter and Crediton Railway. The structure is timber-framed and clad with weatherboarding, resting on a brick plinth, and features a low-pitched hipped slate roof with lead rolls at the hips and ridge, along with cast iron gutters and downpipes.

The building has a small rectangular plan with four bays, consisting of two separate waiting rooms and a canopy over the platform. It is a single-storey structure with an asymmetrical four-bay front. The left-hand (east) bay has a full-height opening, while the three right-hand bays are symmetrical, featuring a central half-glazed door flanked by narrow 8-pane sash windows. The canopy at the front is supported by the tie beams of the main roof, enhanced with five cast iron brackets decorated with roundels that match the main range on the opposite platform. The rear elevation and returns are blind.

Inside, the walls are boarded, and the floor is paved with yellow brick. Original simple wooden benches are fixed to the walls. The original roof construction is intact and exposed, showcasing substantial king post and strut trusses with short curved braces beneath the tie beams, which extend at the front to support the canopy.

Historically, the railway line has a complex background, starting in 1838 and earning the nickname 'The Vicar of Bray Railway'. The Crediton and Exeter Railway, established by an Act in 1845, was leased to the Bristol and Exeter Railway, which converted it to broad gauge and opened it on May 12, 1851, before the London and South Western Railway took over in 1862. This waiting room is a charming and unspoiled example of a station building, part of an interesting group of 19th-century structures at Crediton station.