2 C O N T E X T 1 3 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 3 Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Fiona Newton, 01507 602567 editorial@ihbc.org.uk Editorial Board Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Fiona Newton (chair) Michael Taylor Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2013 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA 01747 871717 context@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £60.00 Elsewhere £90.00 The views expressed in Context are not necessarily held by the IHBC or the publisher. Neither the publisher nor the IHBC shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. We gratefully acknowledge the support of firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication.While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this issue of Context is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. Briefing Context Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The next five copy deadlines are: November, Issue 132 13 September March, Issue 133 17 January May, Issue 134 14 March July, Issue 135 16 May September, 136 18 July Signal boxes listed Twenty six of England’s rarest and best preserved signal boxes have been given Grade II listed status by the Department for Culture Media and Sport as a result of a joint English Heritage and Network Rail project to safeguard the nation’s railway signalling heritage. The listings come as Network Rail decommissions many mechanical signal boxes to consolidate signalling into 12 regional centres. Installed from the mid-19th century onwards, there were around 10,000 signal boxes at the peak of their use in the 1940s. Today fewer than 500 are still in use by Network Rail. They were built in highly visible spots at stations or level crossings to an enormous variety of designs, sometimes with beautiful detailing and embellishment far beyond what was needed for their practical function. They were constructed both by specialist contractors like Saxby and Farmer and by individual railway companies, each developing its own distinctive style. English Heritage has worked in close partnership with Network Rail to identify and protect a representative sample of the most significant designs, especially those within groups of historic railway buildings. From Cornwall to Kent and Sussex to NorthYorkshire, the newly listed signal boxes date from the 1870s to the 1920s. Many still retain their original operating equipment. The box designs range from imposing structures, like the enormous Saxby and Farmer designed box at Eastbourne, to simple single-storey timber buildings, like the diminutive Stevens and Sons box at Grain Crossing in Medway, Kent, the last survivor of a once numerous design. In the North of England, Hebden Bridge signal box, built in 1891, is one of only a handful of Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway boxes to survive in anything like original condition. Both it and nearby listed station buildings still retain their original 1914 signage. The East of England has wellpreserved boxes built for the Great Eastern Railway like the one at Downham Market, which complements one of the most attractive small stations in East Anglia, and the elaborate example at Brundall which was built in 1883 and unusually is built of wood blocks cut to resemble stone. At Totnes in Devon, the large signal box, built to the Great Western Railway’s standard design used between 1896 and the 1920s, has striking, contrasting blue brickwork and what are in effect a series of bay windows to give the signalman a clear view down the line.With the removal of the original operating equipment, the building has found a new use as a café. Decommissioned signal boxes have Signal boxes (clockwise from top left) at Downham Market, Canterbury East, Skegness and Hebden Bridge
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