Welshpool Railway Station Buildings

History: Built 1859-60, to house the headquarters of the Oswestry and Newtown Railway, and designed by Benjamin Piercy. However the building's role as headquarters was short-lived -from 1860 until only 1862. Following the re-alignment of the railway, and the re-use of its original line for a by-pass, c1990, the building is no longer used as a station.

Description: French Renaissance style, symmetrically composed. Brick with stone dressings and slate roof (renewed) with scallop tiled bands. Axial stacks. Pavilion towers to either side flank the 2 storeyed, 8-window range. This has high paired central gables, flanked by lower hipped roofed and plain gables. These outer gables house 2 and 3-light wood mullioned and transomed windows, and there are similar paired windows beneath the central gables. Between these at first floor level, is a stone plaque emblazoned with the Prince of Wales feathers. Lower storey has main central entrance, with further paired doorways towards the left, and a single doorway to the right, and 2-light wood mullioned and transomed windows. The doorways are all steeply arched, with foliate decoration carved in the spandrels. Shallow canopy roof carried on brackets projects over ground floor. Pavilion towers are 2 storeyed with attics, their hipped roofs surmounted by cast-iron brattishing. Doorway and 2-light window in left hand tower, with paired windows above, and steep gabled dormer with traceried mullioned lights to top storey. Right hand tower has stepped stone mullioned and transomed window lighting staircase, and steep gabled dormer above with traceried mullioned lights. Platform side has similarly detailed doors and windows, and a deep canopy carried on arcaded cast iron-work (from the foundry of S. Morris, Welshpool) with 21 posts carrying pointed arched bracing with quatrefoils in the spandrels.

A lavishly designed and detailed station, reflecting its original role as the Railway Company's headquarters, which is a prominent feature of the approach to Welshpool from the east.

References: Richard Haslam, Powys, Buildings of Wales Series 1979, p.211; Ion Trant, The Changing Face of Welshpool, 1986, p.84.