1. Denbigh Railway station, now sadly demolished after closing in the 1960s following the Beeching report, was designed by Lloyd Williams & Underwood, a local Denbigh firm of architects, and described as the best of the stations that they designed for the Vale of Clwyd Railway. The station was opened in December 1860; the railway had been using a temporary stop before the station's completion which reached Denbigh two years previously. Used as the Headquarters of the Vale of Clwyd Railway Company this may be why it was a particularly fine example of a station building. As well as the station building itself it also served as the Station Masters house.
References:
Hubbard E, Clwyd, Buildings of Wales Series, 1986, p.149
Denbighshire Historical Transactions ? Vol.52 (2003), Railways in the Vale of Clwyd
D.Jones, RCAHMW, 16/08/2012


A major change to the transport infrastructure of the area came about with the arrival of the railways. The Chester to Holyhead line had been completed in 1848, and the Vale of Clwyd Railway was incorporated by an Act of 1856, connecting towns along the Vale to the wider national network. The initial 10 mile stretch ran from Rhyl as far as Trefnant, but by 1858 the line reached Denbigh, with the official opening on 7 October 1858. Celebrations started at 6am with the firing of a field gun captured during the Crimean war, followed by the ringing of St Hilary's Church bells. The town was highly decorated with flags and bunting and all the townspeople were out to celebrate the arrival of the new railway, for which many had hopes and dreams of it bringing a much needed injection of wealth to the town. In 1862 the Denbigh Ruthin and Corwen line was opened as far as Ruthin and completed to Corwen in 1866 . A branch from Denbigh to Mold was opened to passenger traffic by 1870 . Denbigh station was opened in December 1860; the railway had used a temporary stop before the station's completion.

The station was designed by Lloyd Williams & Underwood, and described as the best of the stations that they designed, possibly because it was also used as the headquarters of the Vale of Clwyd Railway Company. It characterizes a new departure in the architecture of public transport in that, unlike with the coaching routes where passengers waited and prepared for their journeys at inns or hotels, here was provided a specific building that could accommodate all a potential traveller's needs, although this was not welcomed by all, John Ruskin describing them as `the very temple of discomfort?. The centrally placed booking and left luggage offices were easily accessible at footpath level, and in addition to the general waiting room, further waiting rooms for first class and second class ladies were provided, both with small partitions which were possibly for the provision of lavatories though are not marked as such. As well as stores, lamp rooms and offices there was also provision at first floor level for the station master's accommodation. The whole was built in a simple Tudor Gothic style not dissimilar to that used for other public buildings in the town, distinguished by somewhat heavy spire over the hall leading to the first floor accommodation.

Despite its grandness the station serviced a single platform, partially sheltered by a projecting roof supported on cast iron columns. In 1885 the platform was extended and the layout altered, allowing trains passing in either direction to stop, but as the number of trains dealt with increased the town council complained about the paucity of platform space. In 1907 the Board of Trade condemned the practice of backing passing trains into the platform behind trains already stationary, but no further improvement were made, and after closure by Beeching in 1968 the station was demolished.

S Fielding RCAHMW October 2018

Denbighshire Historical Transactions ? Vol.52 (2003), Railways in the Vale of Clwyd
A. Fletcher, Railways in the Vale of Clwyd, p 122, 124, in Old Denbighshire, Transactions of the Denbigh Historical Society, Volume 52, 2003.
E. Hubbard, 1996, Buildings of Wales ? Clwyd
Morriss, Richard. The Archaeology of Railways. 1999
Denbigh town plan 1:500
Baughan, Peter E. A regional history of the railways of Great Britain. Vol 11 North and Mid Wales 1980