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It
is almost impossible to imagine what Nayland would look like today if
there was a railway track running
right through the middle of the Conservation Area, with a station in the
High Street. It would no doubt be very convenient for our commuting
residents if they could get off the train near the White Hart but just
imagine the loss of some our most interesting buildings that this would
necessitate.
Nayland
very nearly did have its own railway in the mid nineteenth century.
Railways were gradually spreading over the region and it was proposed by
a small railway company called the Mistley, Thorpe and Walton Railway to
run a River Stour Extension line from the main line junction at
Manningtree along the south bank of the river through Dedham and Nayland
to Bures where it would have joined the existing Stour Valley line which
runs from Sudbury to Marks Tey.
Plans
were drawn up and circulated to the parishes concerned and a Bill to
provide the necessary statutory powers was presented to Parliament. The
deposited plans for Nayland showed that the proposed railway was
intended to cross the Fen and Candy Lane at the bottom of Fen Street,
running in a westward direction through an orchard owned at that time by
the Congregational Chapel and along the northern side of Webb’s Meadow.
It would then have passed through several gardens, a stack yard and two
houses before crossing the garden of the then vicarage within a few feet
of the vicarage itself. The vicarage would have had to be demolished and
the station probably built on the site.
The
line would have continued westwards across High Street through the house
and garden opposite the old vicarage and then through a wood yard,
‘hovel’ and garden, then crossing two meadows and leaving the parish by
bridges over the river. The engineers of the line would have been
allowed to deviate within certain limits and this could have meant that
the former William Deaves & Sons’ premises, the Queens Head and White
Hart in the High Street, the silk factory in Fen Street and the gasworks
and brewery behind the Church could all have been affected. One can
imagine the alarm of all the landowners, householders and businesses
when they heard about the plans. |
Illustration: Lorraine Brooks
It
must have been a considerable relief to those who would have been
affected when the railway did not materialise. The railway company
concerned, which was already constructing a line from Harwich to the
Tendring district, ran into financial difficulties and the Stour
Extension Bill was withdrawn in 1866.
This
article is based on two written for the
Nayland Record in 1974 and 1975 by David Walsh who was the son of Captain
Bernard Walsh and Mrs. Violet Walsh, who lived from 1912 to the 1970s at
Stourbank [now Bear House] in Bear Street. A railway enthusiast amongst
other things, David Walsh spent his early life in Nayland but retained
his links with the village, returning every year until recently for the
annual Remembrance Day service in November. Living latterly in Norfolk
he sadly died in 2004 but his family will long be remembered here for
the considerable contribution they made to the village in many ways.
Wendy Sparrow, Nayland |
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