It is exceedingly fortunate that the main buildings at the intermediate stations of the Wirksworth branch all remain in existence over half a century after they ceased to be required for the passenger traffic they were built to serve.  Hazelwood and Idridgehay are now both private residences, while Shottle has served as offices for many years, but it is sad that the corresponding buildings at each end of the branch were demolished many years ago.  All were in a similar, gabled, twin-pavilion style with Wirksworth being on a slightly larger scale, and Duffield being even larger still.  This design was more-or-less standard for Midland Railway station buildings dating from the period when the Wirksworth line was built, and was conceived by the company’s Chief Engineer, John Sydney Crossley.

Crossley was born in 1812, and having been orphaned at the age of two, was articled to his guardian’s son, who was the engineer of the Leicester Navigation.  His railway work began on the Leicester and Swannington Railway in 1833, from which he progressed to the Midland Counties Railway, one of the three constituents of the Midland Railway.  He became Chief Engineer to that company in 1858, despite suffering a stroke six years earlier.  In this position, he was responsible for constructing some 225 miles of new line, including the Wirksworth branch, the Clay Cross tunnel and his greatest achievement, the Settle and Carlisle line.  This badly affected his health, however, and in 1875 the Midland Railway accepted his resignation, but only on condition that he completed the line, and remained as a consultant afterwards.  The line opened a year later, but Crossley’s health was ruined, and he died in 1879 at the age of 66.

Similarly, travel north to Carlisle via Settle, and you will notice that the Midland Railway’s magnificent route to Scotland (opened a further six years after the Bristol-Bath line) is similarly graced with variations on the “Wirksworth branch” theme.  Indeed, all but two of the stations on the Settle and Carlisle line were of this style.  Nowadays, we hear a lot about corporate identity, but the idea (although not identified as such) was certainly present in the middle of the nineteenth century, and there was a very real desire on the part of railway companies that the traveller should be in no doubt about whose facilities he or she was enjoying.

Some variations were more startling, and in the Birmingham area for example, the station buildings at Moseley, Balsall Heath, King’s Norton and Water Orton sprouted a third pavilion and a further extension, so that the result was something like “Shottle on Growmore”!  A nice detail on these buildings was the use of round-topped windows, and here we have a link back to Duffield, which despite sharing the twin-pavilion approach of its branch-line neighbours, was much grander, as befitted its main-line status.  The company knew when it was onto a “winner”, and this enlarged and more ostentatious design found itself repeated at other locations too, including Hathern on the Derby to Leicester line.

Shottle is perhaps the best-preserved of the three surviving examples, having been used for many years as offices for an oil-distribution company.  The station doors here are still labelled “Ladies Room”, “Station Master”, etc., and the owners are to be congratulated on the way that they have maintained and preserved the building.

Idridgehay station building is now a private house, and although not too apparent from the outside, this one has undergone the most significant changes inside.  These changes took place in the early 1980s, and involved the insertion of a second floor just above window level.  The new second storey is therefore in the old roof space, and of necessity, skylights have been placed in the roof to light the top floor.  I was privileged to see the conversion work being done, and it was quite strange to stand on the new floor, and look down to the platform.  This must now rank as a highly-desirable residence - especially as it now enjoys the benefit of mains water and electricity!

At Wirksworth, the station building survived for many years, but slowly became derelict, and was demolished in January 1967 as part of the site’s conversion to a stone terminal.  The stone from the building was, allegedly, used in the construction of the embankment for the “dust dock” – an ignominious end for a fine building.  Whatever the basis for this story, though, recent work in that area has failed to unearth a kit of parts for Wirksworth’s former station building.

It is said that classic pieces of design never become obsolete, and whether Crossley was actually the architect of these fine buildings, or whether he merely oversaw their design by a minion in the Midland Railway’s drawing office, they have become an essential part of the “Midland scene”.  We are indeed fortunate that this collection of three examples remains complete in the Ecclesbourne valley.