Ludgate Hill railway station

Ludgate Hill was a railway station in the City of London that was opened on 1 June 1865 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) as its City terminus. It was situated on Ludgate Viaduct (a railway viaduct) between Queen Victoria Street and Ludgate Hill, slightly north of St. Paul's station (now called Blackfriars station) on the site of the former Fleet Prison.[1]

Ludgate Hill and surrounding streets in 1888
Ludgate Hill station (remains), with RCTS rail tour in 1953.
The station in 1865

Ludgate Hill
LocationCity of London
OwnerLondon, Chatham and Dover Railway
Number of platforms2
Key dates
1 June 1865 (1865-06-01)Opened
3 March 1929 (1929-03-03)Closed
Replaced bynone
Other information
 London transport portal

North of Ludgate Hill station, Ludgate Viaduct continued to the Snow Hill tunnel to connect with the then recently opened Metropolitan Railway south of Farringdon station to enable main-line trains to run between north and south London.

Passenger services through the tunnel ended in 1916, after which services north of Ludgate Hill station ran only the few hundred yards to Holborn Viaduct station which had opened in 1874. Ludgate Hill became little used because of its proximity to the Holborn Viaduct and St. Paul's stations, and on 3 March 1929 Ludgate Hill was closed. The platform buildings remained derelict until they were demolished in the 1960s but the island platform remained until 1974. Remains of the street-level buildings and traces of the platform and staircase lasted until the whole station area and viaduct were demolished in 1990.

In the 1970s, in the Fleet line proposal, preparatory work began for Ludgate Circus Underground station very near the site of the former Ludgate Hill station, but it was abandoned when a different alignment was chosen for the Jubilee line, as it later became known.

An office building now stands at the station site, above a new tunnel which connects the old Snow Hill tunnel and Blackfriars station for Thameslink services. City Thameslink station in the new tunnel has a southern exit at Ludgate Circus, roughly on the site of the old Ludgate Hill station.

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Holborn Viaduct
Line and station closed		   London, Chatham
& Dover Railway
City branch		   Blackfriars
Line and station open
A 1914 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Ludgate Hill railway station

See also

References
  1. Timbs, John (1855). Curiosities of London: Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis. D. Bogue. p. 346.
  • White, H. P. (1971) [1963]. London Railway History (A regional history of the railways of Great Britain, Volume III - Greater London). David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-5337-0.

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