I have driven past this building many times but I had never really studied it before. It sits alongside the road out of Shipley through Windhill towards Leeds, just past Shipley railway station and not far from the old and now decrepit Carnegie Library (see HERE). Walking past one day, I stopped to photograph it. I was speculating that it might at one time have been a school. Just as I was pondering, I bumped into a former workmate, a life-long Shipley resident. She told me it used to be a railway station. I've looked it up and apparently there used to be a branch line of the Great Northern Railway linking villages to the north-east of Bradford. Passenger services closed in 1931 and goods services on the line ceased in the 1960s. The unit is now used by some businesses but, like the library, it looks increasingly decrepit, though it was once a handsome building. By contrast, the station only a quarter of a mile away that was part of the Midland Railway is still used, linking Shipley with Leeds, Bradford and Skipton.
In this new age when every penny must be turned over twice these old buildings will increasingly become a problem for a profit-orientated society. What to do with them?
ReplyDeleteI love these old buildings, it's a pity that it looks a bit tired !I hate when they demolish old buildings and replace it by glass boxes or towers ! Like in London which has lost a lot of his charm since it looks like "little Dubai"
ReplyDeleteOh I think it would have been a beauty in its day Jenny, really hope it doesn't go the way of the library. Was interesting to go back to 2012 and see the state of the library even then, it does seem to be standing its ground though 💜
ReplyDeletePerhaps we could export it brick for brick in containers to sunny California like they did with the old "London Bridge"?
ReplyDeleteThe memories will disappear with these older people!
ReplyDeleteHopefully some good can be made of this building.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pity that many of these former train stations have become derelict or been torn down when train services were eliminated in the UK.
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