Downside

Downside is a railway station building, dating from 1863, and subsequently converted into a house. The building is constructed of gritstone ashlar with Welsh slate roofs, including a decorative band of fishscale slates. It features pitched roofs, with a half-hipped gable end containing a stack. Other stacks include a truncated stone ridge stack and a circular stone stack rising halfway up the roof pitch. The building is finished with fretted bargeboards and wooden finials.

The south elevation has four bays. To the right is a two-storey section with a three-light wooden casement window on the ground floor, with a relieving arch above, and a matching three-light casement window above, featuring trefoiled lights. A small single-light window and a doorway, with overlight and segmental pointed arch, are situated to the left, above which is a two-light dormer window. A single-storey range to the left has two three-light wooden casement windows. The north elevation features a projecting bay that mirrors the south elevation’s design. The projecting bay is connected to the main building by a platform canopy supported on four wooden columns with curved brackets and a catslide roof. All windows have chamfered stone surrounds.

The station opened as Longstone Station in June 1863 on the Midland Railway line between Ambergate and Manchester, which provided a route from London to Manchester via Derby. It was intended to serve Longstone and Ashford in the Water, and George Marples of Thornbridge Hall, a director of the Midland Railway Company, used it for private access. The station’s design is believed to be by William Barlow, the Midland Railway’s engineer, although Edward Walters has also been credited. The station was renamed 'Great Longstone for Ashford' in 1913, then became part of the London Midland Scottish Railway in 1923, and subsequently British Railways in 1948. The station closed to passengers in 1962 and had its last train in 1967. The Peak District National Park established the Monsal Trail on the former railway line in 1982.

The building is designated at Grade II for its architectural quality, historic connection with George Marples and Thornbridge Hall, and its group value with Woodlands, a building constructed to provide private access to the station.