Filleigh railway station

Filleigh railway station served a rural area of north Devon between Barnstaple and South Molton. The station was on the Devon and Somerset Railway that ran between Taunton and Barnstaple. The Devon and Somerset was operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway and was taken over with the B&E by the Great Western Railway.

The section of the line between Wiveliscombe and Barnstaple opened on 1 November 1873. Filleigh station was originally called Castle Hill, after the mansion owned by Earl Fortescue, but was renamed in 1881 to avoid confusion with a station of the same name in West London (which was itself later renamed West Ealing).

Filleigh was on a single track part of the line and had a single platform on the up side of the line (towards Taunton), where the main building was situated. A crossing loop was installed with a second platform in 1937, though no building or shelter was ever provided on this second platform. There was a goods yard to the west of the station, and goods were handled for places some distance to the north, including Lynton and Lynmouth. There was also a private siding to Lord Fortescue's estate.

Goods traffic was withdrawn from Filleigh in 1964 and the station closed to passenger traffic with the closure of the Devon and Somerset line on 3 October 1966. The station building was used as a house but was later demolished when the railway alignment was used for the North Devon Link Road.

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References

* Devon Railway stations, Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 2007. ISBN 1 904349 55 6