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Wells (Priory Road) railway station

1859 establishments in EnglandBuildings and structures in Wells, SomersetDisused railway stations in SomersetFormer Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway stationsPages with no open date in Infobox station
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1951Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859Use British English from March 2017
Priory Road Wells Station
Priory Road Wells Station

Wells (Priory Road) was a railway station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Wells in the county of Somerset in England. Opening on 15 March 1859 as Wells, on the Somerset Central Railway, at that time a broad-gauge line operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, prior to that company's amalgamation with the Dorset Central Railway to form the Somerset & Dorset, it was the terminus of the branch from Glastonbury. The East Somerset Railway, an offshoot of the Great Western Railway-owned Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, extended its line to Wells in 1862 with its own station to the east of Priory Road. Then in 1870, the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley Railway from Yatton reached Wells with a third terminus station at Tucker Street to the north west of Priory Road. Finally, in 1878, with all three lines by this time converted to standard gauge, the GWR linked the Cheddar Valley line to the East Somerset line by running over a stretch of the Somerset and Dorset line, including through Priory Road station. The East Somerset station closed on the commencement of through-running, but the through trains did not stop at Priory Road until 1934 and for 56 years passengers from, say, Glastonbury to Cheddar would need to change stations in Wells. Priory Road adopted the full name in October 1883, and the Cheddar Valley line station was renamed as Tucker Street in 1920. Priory Road station consisted of one platform with a station building and an overall roof. The adjacent goods yard and junction with the GWR were controlled from a signal box. The station closed to passengers on 29 October 1951 and the train shed roof was taken down soon after, although passenger traffic on the former GWR line through the station continued until 1963, with goods traffic until 1969. The station was demolished after closure and the site is now occupied by the city centre by-pass road.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wells (Priory Road) railway station (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Wells (Priory Road) railway station
Strawberry Way, Wells

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N 51.204161 ° E -2.65301 °
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Wells (Priory Road)

Strawberry Way
BA5 2AU Wells
England, United Kingdom
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Priory Road Wells Station
Priory Road Wells Station
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Wells (Tucker Street) railway station
Wells (Tucker Street) railway station

Wells (Tucker Street) railway station was the second terminus station on the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line in Somerset after the extension from the first terminus at Cheddar was opened. It was the third station on the third railway to reach the city of Wells and proved to be the longest surviving. The station was opened with the extension of the broad gauge line from Cheddar on 5 April 1870. It was converted to standard gauge in the mid-1870s and then became Wells' main station when the Cheddar Valley line was linked up to the East Somerset Railway to provide through services from Yatton to Witham in 1878. To achieve this through-running, the Great Western Railway, which had by this time taken over both the Bristol and Exeter and the East Somerset lines, had to run trains over rails owned by the separate Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway and through the S&DJR terminus station at Priory Road to the East Somerset station which was across the street. The East Somerset station at this stage closed, but GWR trains ran through Priory Road without stopping for a further 56 years, until in 1934 they started to call at the S&D station. Priory Road closed in 1951 with the closure of the S&D branch line from Glastonbury and Street, leaving Tucker Street as the only station in Wells. In fact, as the "main" station on the most direct line from other centres of population, Tucker Street station was known simply as "Wells" for the first 50 years of its life, being renamed only on 12 July 1920. It resumed the Wells name on 29 October 1951 when Priory Road shut. But Tucker Street station lasted only a dozen years longer. The Yatton to Witham line closed to passengers on 9 September 1963, though goods traffic mostly carrying stone passed through from Cheddar until 1969. The station was demolished soon after closure but the goods shed remains as commercial premises and a row of five houses built for the staff are still standing.

St John's Priory, Wells
St John's Priory, Wells

St John's Priory in Wells, Somerset, England, from the 14th century. Along with its boundary walls and railings it has been designated as a Grade I listed building.The initial development was as a hospital for poor, aged and sick men by 1210. The original foundation was by Jocelin of Wells, after his consecration in 1204, along with his brother Hugh of Wells.It was made into a priory in 1350 providing accommodation for a prior, chaplain and ten brothers, which lasted until the dissolution of the monasteries when it had an income of £40 per year. It then became crown property until 1575 when it was given to Sir Christopher Hatton and later became the property of Baron Brooke.Land was donated to St John's in both 1667 and 1716.The former priory building may also have been used as a guest house for visitors to Wells Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace. There was a cemetery associated with the building. The history of the buildings is set out in 33 deeds including one from 1738 which is displayed in the dining room.The land surrounding the priory was disturbed and remaining archaeological remains destroyed around 1850 when new roads and a school were built on the site. This also involved demolition of some of the building. In the 1860s the building was owned by the Lovell family.The two-storey stone building was an open hall but a first floor corridor and bedrooms have been added. The roof is supported by cruck trusses and purlins. Dendochronology has shown the wood used for the roof was felled in the winter of 1313 to 1314.

Wells, Somerset
Wells, Somerset

Wells () is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, located on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, 21 miles (34 km) south-east of Weston-super-Mare, 22 mi (35 km) south-west of Bath and 23 mi (37 km) south of Bristol. Although the population recorded in the 2011 census was only 10,536, (increased to 12,000 by 2018) and with a built-up area of just 3.244 km2 (1.253 sq mi), Wells has had city status since medieval times, because of the presence of Wells Cathedral. Often described as England's smallest city, it is actually second smallest to the City of London in area and population, but unlike London it is not part of a larger urban agglomeration. Wells takes its name from three wells dedicated to Saint Andrew, one in the market place and two within the grounds of the Bishop's Palace and cathedral. A small Roman settlement surrounded them, which grew in importance and size under the Anglo-Saxons when King Ine of Wessex founded a minster church there in 704. The community became a trading centre based on cloth making and Wells is notable for its 17th-century involvement in both the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. In the 19th century, transport infrastructure improved with stations on three different railway lines. However, since 1964 the city has been without a railway link. The cathedral and the associated religious and medieval architectural history provide much of the employment. The city has a variety of sporting and cultural activities and houses several schools including The Blue School, a state coeducational comprehensive school that was founded in 1641, and the private Wells Cathedral School, which was founded possibly as early as 909 and is one of the five established musical schools for school-age children in the United Kingdom. Wells's historic architecture has led to the city being used as a shooting location for numerous films and television programmes.