Station Name: BOTANIC GARDENS (Hull)

 

[Source: Mark Dyson]
Date opened: 1.6.1853
Location: North side of Spring Bank and Princes Avenue junction
Company on opening: North Eastern Railway
Date closed to passengers: 19.10.1964
Date closed completely: 4.10.1965
Company on closing: British Railways (Eastern Region)
Present state: Demolished - site is now occupied by a pub ('The Old Zoological') and its car park. Traces of the railway boundary wall can be seen behind shops on Princes Avenue to the north of the site.
County: Yorkshire
OS Grid Ref: TA082296
Date of visit: 24.5.1975 & 15.5.2005

Notes: The station was opened as Cemetery but was renamed Cemetery Gates 9.1866 after the Hornsea and Withernsea trains started to use the line and finally renamed Botanic Gardens (which were opposite the station on Spring Bank) on 1.11.1881.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VICTORIA DOCK BRANCH
The York and North Midland railway served Hull's town docks on the western side of the River Hull from the goods station on Railway Street, however after the Victoria Dock on the east side of Hull opened in 1850 a new railway was necessary to serve it.

The Victoria Dock branch line was just over 3 miles long, running in a rough semicircle from Anlaby Road (junction with the Hull-Selby line) to the north of Hull and terminating at the dock; powers were obtained in June 1852 and the line opened for freight on 16.5.1853. The line was built at ground level, and there were level crossings on all of Hull's main roads. A suburban passenger service, one of the earliest in the country, began on 1.6.1853, it lasted only until 1854 due to lack of passenger numbers.

On initial opening of the Hull and Holderness Railway on 27.6.1854 trains terminated at Victoria Dock; Hull-Hornsea branch trains terminated at Wilmington station when that line opened on 28.3.1864. However from 1.6.1864 trains from both branch lines ran into Hull's Paragon Station via the Victoria Dock branch, bringing the passenger stations back into use.

With closure of the Hornsea and Withernsea routes in October 1964, the Victoria Dock branch stations closed, through freight services to and from the docks continued to use the line until its complete closure in 1968.

The trackbed eastwards beyond Wilmington station and at Southcoates has been obliterated by a new ring road, Victoria Dock station can be traced on the 1850's OS maps but closed in the 1860's and there is no trace

To see the other stations on the Victoria Dock Branch Line click on the
station name: Stepney
, Southcoates, Sculcoates, Wilmington &
Hull Victoria Dock


Edwardian postcard showing Botanic Gardens Station
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection



Botanic Gardens Station looking north in c.1935
Photo received from Mick Nicholson

Botanic Gardens Station in c.1960
Photo received from Nick Hull

Botanic Gardens Station in May 1975
Copyright photo from Nigel Mundy collection

Looking north east across Spring Bank crossing to the site of Botanic Gardens Station
P
hoto by Mark Dyson



 

 

 

[Source: Mark Dyson]


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