Station Name: BISHOPSGATE

[Source: Nick Catford]
Date opened: 1.7.1840
Location: At the junction of Shoreditch High Street and Bethnel Green Road
Company on opening: Eastern Counties Railway
Date closed to passengers: 1.11.1875
Date closed completely: 5.12.1964
Company on closing: Great Eastern Railway
Present state: The goods station has now been partially demolished to make way for the East London Line extension which now incorporates a new Shoreditch High Street station on the site.
County: London
OS Grid Ref: TQ336822
Date of visit: 9.1968, 2.1982, 11.1994

Notes: An Act of Parliament passed in 1836 authorised the building of the Eastern Counties Railway between London and Great Yarmouth. The London section of the Eastern Counties Railway opened in June 1839 from a temporary terminus at Mile End to a temporary station at Romford. The following summer the line was extend to a permanent terminus at Shoreditch. The line was also extended into East Anglia, reaching Colchester in March 1843. Shoreditch Station was renamed Bishopsgate on 27th July 1846.

The company never reached its Great Yarmouth destination; the Eastern Counties merged with other lines to form the Great Eastern Railway in 1862. Initially the Great Eastern used Fenchurch Street as its City terminus but this lacked the capacity to deal with increasing suburban traffic so a new city site was selected adjacent to the North London Railway's
Broad Street Station facing on to Liverpool Street. In order to reach the new terminus a new line diverged on the north side of the viaduct into Bishopsgate curving round under Bishopsgate and into the new terminus at Liverpool Street.

To accommodate Bishopsgate's passengers, new low level platforms were constructed at Bishopsgate, one underneath the existing station and the other on the south side of the old terminus. Following the opening of Liverpool Street, Bishopsgate Station was closed on 1st November 1875 although some trains still used the station until 1879. Bishopsgate was rebuilt as a two level goods station remaining in use until destroyed by fire on 5th December 1964. The goods station has now been partially demolished to make way for the East London Line extension (now London Overground) which now incorporate a new Shoreditch High Street station on the site.

Ticket from Michael Stewart




Bishopsgate station in 1863. This station was replaced by a new station at Liverpool street in 1875. Bishopsgate station then became a goods depot.
Reproduced under Creative Commons Licence © National Railway Museum and SSP.


Map of the London end of the Eastern Counties Railway showing the Bishopsgate terminus


Reynolds Map of Modern London 1859.

Bishopsgate Terminus in 1850

Bishopsgate goods station in the first decade of the 20th century.


Bishopsgate Goods Station shortly after the fire in 1964
Photo by Kim Wilkie


Bishopsgate goods station in 1968
Photo by Nick Catford

For further pictures of Bishopsgate Station click here

For a detailed feature on Bishopsgate Goods Station click here

[Source: Nick Catford]

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