Bishopsgate was a railway station located on the eastern side of Shoreditch High Street in the parish of Bethnal Green (now within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets) on the western edge of the East End of London and just outside the City of London.
It was in use from 1840 to 1875 as a passenger station and then as a freight terminal until it was destroyed by fire in 1964. Substantial remains lay derelict until they were demolished in the early 2000s to make way for Shoreditch High Street railway station which now stands on part of the site.
History of the site up to 1840
In connection with the extension of the East London Line, some archaeological excavations were undertaken on the site 2007–2010 by the Museum of London Archaeology Service. To the west of the site the discovery of Mesolithic struck flint suggested occupation of the banks of the River Walpole. Bishopsgate follows the line of the Roman road and burial plots were found on both sides of the road. The site remained as open fields until the 17th century although there were a number of brick quarries giving their name to Brick Lane, which were active as long ago as the 14th century. The area developed with residential and industrial premises between 1652 and 1682, and this grew up and by the time of the development had declined into one of the poorest areas of London well known for its criminal elements.
Construction (1838–1840)
When initially surveyed in 1834 the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) considered a number of sites before settling on Shoreditch. These were reviewed in detail by engineer John Braithwaite and the more difficult sites discounted. A major reason for selecting the Shoreditch site was it was close to the financial district and land at that location was relatively cheap. The area it was being built in was by this time riven by poverty and criminality and during construction armed guards were provided.
Unfortunately for the ECR, the landowners soon realised they could extract a high price for the required land and many delayed for a better price. Although work had begun on the ECR line in late March 1837, it was not until 1838 that work commenced between Shoreditch and Bow. Meanwhile, the Northern and Eastern Railway were looking at a London terminus in Islington and had also given up negotiating access to the Commercial Railway line to Minories in 1838 The Commercial Railway did not have permission to extend to Fenchurch Street at this time. The ECR invited the N&ER to share the Shoreditch site and the plan was to have two separate stations, one for each company, on the same site. As the build commenced, this plan was abandoned and the station was designed to operate as a single entity.
Passenger railway station (1840–1873) Description The station was built as part of the London Viaduct engineered by John Braithwaite. The structure was a mile and a quarter long and consisted mostly of brick arches with three cast iron arches, between Shoreditch and Devonshire Street, over Dog Row, Hare Marsh and Globe Road.
When originally built the station had five tracks and these were covered with an overall roof. The two outer tracks each had a platform – one for arrivals and one for departures – whilst the three inner tracks were used for stabling carriages between services. There were a number of small turntables that were used to transfer carriages from one track to another. The carriages at this time were based on the stagecoach design and were shorter than modern day carriages so the space required to move them between tracks was less.
Arriving trains were stopped outside the station and the locomotive would run round the carriages to propel them first to one of two ticket inspection platforms, where ticket inspectors would check tickets, before the train moved forward into the arrival platform. Later ticket inspection was transferred to the station itself.
The structure itself had three levels above street level and the railway was on the first level above the street and approached by ramps. The architect was Sancton Wood and the station building had two four-storey towers. The main roof was constructed of corrugated iron as were the two side roofs covering the arrival and departure platforms. The main roof was supported by two rows of 17 columns.
As the railways expanded, further platforms were added on the north/west side of the complex notably for the introduction of the North Woolwich services. A short bay platform was also added on the opposite side of the station.
There were a number of goods facilities on the approach to the station and over the years these expanded and stretched back to Bethnal Green. Locomotives could be turned, coaled and watered just outside the station or would run back to the nearest engine shed at Stratford.
A full description dated 1844 in The Builder magazine stated:
History The station was opened with the name Shoreditch (or LondonForgotten Stations of Greater London by J. E. Connor and B. Halford) on 1 July 1840 to serve as its new permanent terminus when the railway was extended westwards from an earlier temporary terminus at Devonshire Street, near Mile End.
The Northern and Eastern Railway started operating services to and from Shoreditch on 15 September 1840.
When the station opened it was not completed and work continued on the site for many years although this is partly attributable to the fact railways grew in popularity.
In the early years the station handled goods traffic as well as passenger traffic. As the latter increased it became impractical to unload goods at the station (which included cattle) and a new goods facility was opened at Brick Lane in 1844 (although goods traffic continued until 1845 at Shoreditch).
As built the track gauge on the ECR was 5 feet but provision was made to convert it to Great Western broad gauge had that gauge been adopted as a national standard. With the extension of the ECR in the early 1840s, it became apparent that was a better choice, and in September and October 1844 gauge conversion was carried out throughout the ECR and N&ER systems.
The station was renamed Bishopsgate on 27 July 1846 with the intention of drawing more City commuters by naming it after the major thoroughfare in the heart of the financial district.
By 1847 the ticket inspection platform on the south side had been converted into an arrival platform and an additional platform was provided on the north side for the North Woolwich services. Trains used a timber viaduct built on brick piers to access the platform which had its own booking office. The ECR hoped traffic would be generated by a ferry connection to Woolwich which at that time had no rail link.
By 1850 the departure platform had been extended and widened at the expense of one of the three stabling sidings located between the arrival and departure platforms. The turntable had been enlarged reflecting that larger more powerful locomotives were operating the services, and the station buildings were also extended at this time.
A big storm on 26/27 December 1852 saw the corrugated iron roof damaged beyond repair and this was replaced during 1853. During 1853 the southern side of the viaduct was extended to enable lengthening of the 1847 arrival platform.
By the end of 1853 an additional platform had been added on the north side (near to the North Woolwich platform) and two further sidings were added. These were used as rail access to a street level coal depot.
By 1855 a further bay platform had been added on the south side.
In 1862, the ECR amalgamated with a number of other East Anglian railway companies to form the Great Eastern Railway (GER). At the time the GER also used Fenchurch Street as a terminus but with new lines planned the GER decided the Bishopsgate station was too cramped (and badly positioned) for further development as a passenger service and began building the approaches to a new station at Liverpool Street in 1865.
The GER did extend the northside of the viaduct approaching Bishopsgate which saw the N&ER Brick Lane goods depot (see below) demolished. It is thought this was to improve access to the coal depot at Bishopsgate. Continuing congestion issues saw two new platforms built as late as 1872 on the site of the former coal depot. This was then final alteration at Bishopsgate which totalled eight platforms on closure to passengers.
The new extension to Liverpool Street opened to a new station called Bishopsgate (Low Level) in 1872, before extension into the new Liverpool Street station which opened in 1874. After a brief period where both terminus stations were in operation and Bishopsgate Low Level station operated as a through station, Bishopsgate station was closed to passenger traffic on 1 November 1875.
The new line into Liverpool Street paralleled the viaduct so a number of goods facilities were demolished or altered at this time.
Passenger services When the station opened on services were run by the Eastern Counties Railway to Romford there were 11 weekday ECR trains to Brentwood. This increased to 18 when the Northern and Eastern Railway started operation on 15 September 1840.
As new lines were built other destinations were served.
Bishops Stortford 1842 Colchester 1843 Hertford 1843 Cambridge 1845 Norwich (via Cambridge) 1845 Ipswich 1846 (via Eastern Union Railway) North Woolwich 1847 Enfield (via Angel Road) 1849
The Bradshaw's Railway Guide dated 1 March 1850 had the following services departing Shoreditch (although the station had been renamed Bishopsgate in 1846):
+ Weekday Departures by destination: March 1850 Destination No of services Remarks Brentwood 2 Via Ilford and Romford Broxbourne 5 Via Angel Road Cambridge 1 Via Broxbourne Chelmsford 1 Via Ilford and Romford Colchester 1 Via Ilford and Romford Enfield 2 Via Angel Road. Hertford 4 Via Broxbourne. Later renamed Hertford East Ipswich 3 Via Colchester – Eastern Union Railway Colchester to Ipswich North Woolwich 16 Via Stratford Bridge (later renamed Stratford Market). Ferry connection to Woolwich. Norwich 7 via Bishops Stortford, Cambridge, Ely and Thetford Norwich 2 Via Colchester and Ipswich – Eastern Union Railway Colchester to Norwich Stratford 1 Last train of day at 22:15 p.m. Waltham 3 Later named Waltham Abbey Generally, there was a 15-minute time interval between services which was the journey time of a stopping train to Stratford (calling at Mile End and Victoria Park & Bow. A fast train took 10 minutes which was the minimum time allowed, and a physical barrier was placed across the track after a train had departed. Absolute block between Bishopsgate and Stratford was introduced in 1851. Some services operated together with the coaches for the rear service being slipped approaching Stratford.An accident on 16 September 1840 at Stratford suggested that this was done on the move as some carriages collided with the locomotive waiting to take them forward. Whether this was the practice at Stratford in 1850 is unclear.
Following the opening of the London Tilbury & Southend Railway (LT&SR) in 1854, services from Tilbury and, by 1856 Southend, operated via Stratford where the train would split into Bishopsgate and Fenchurch Street portions. This arrangement lasted until 1858 when the LT&SR opened a more direct route avoiding an increasingly busy Stratford station. Other ECR services to Loughton and about half of the North Woolwich operated from Fenchurch Street rather than Bishospgate. The London & Blackwall Railway charged for each train using Fenchurch Street and a dispute lasting until 1857 saw some Loughton line services using Bishopsgate for a period.