STATION LANE
FEATHERSTONE HOTEL TO THE STATION
FEATHERSTONE HOTEL TO THE STATION
The north end of Station Lane.
The Roman Catholic Church was built in 1936 to replace the use of an ex-Methodist chapel in Green Lane. Photo - Ryan Kitchen (Featherstone Bygone Days).
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| Johnson's Corner, named after George Johnson who held the off-licence. |
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Houses ready for demolition in 1978. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff Collection. Part of the cleared site at the end towards Johnson's Corner was used to build the Station Lane Medical Centre in 1991. Photo - personal.
The Roman Catholic Church was built in 1936 to replace the use of an ex-Methodist chapel in Green Lane. Photo - Ryan Kitchen (Featherstone Bygone Days).
A presbytery was built next to the church for the Roman Catholic parish priest. Photo - Betty Longbottom.
The Ackton Hall Colliery offices and the two houses were built in 1895. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
A fire in 1991 damaged the offices beyond repair and they were demolished. Photo - the Express.
Masham's Terrace on the right was built in 1891, and the sidings bridge in 1894. Photo - a postcard.
Masham's Terrace was among the first houses to be demolished in the council's slum clearance programme in the 1950's. A project began in 1972 to turn the site into a garden. It was a joint effort by the council and teachers and pupils from North Featherstone Secondary Modern School. It was finished in 1973 and won a television competition for a Yorkshire Environmental Award. The two photos of the preparatory work are by Dr J Gatecliff.
After the offices fire, the pit war memorial was moved to the memorial garden on the site of Mashams Terrace. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
There are no names on the War Memorial in front of Purston Parish Church, so a Featherstone Memorial Garden Group Committee was formed in 2005 to raise funds for another memorial to be built next to the Ackton Hall Colliery Memorial and have all the names inscribed. It was opened in 2008. Photo - Heather Crossfield (Featherstone Bygone Days).
Photo - personal.
The iron sidings bridge was replaced by a concrete one in 1954. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
The Post Office with the red telephone box outside was opened in 1914. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
The little house between the post office and the level crossing, said to be the smallest in Featherstone, was demolished in 1963. Photo - Eric Lorriman (Featherstone Bygone Days).
THE STATION TO THE HIPPODROME
Featherstone Station on the Wakefield to Goole line was opened in 1848 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. Photo - a postcard.
The subway was installed in 1992. Photo - a postcard.
There wasn't a turntable at Wakefield or Goole stations so the engine cab was altered for the locomotive to run in reverse on the Goole to Wakefield run. Photo - a postcard.
The goods yard was closed in 1963. Photo - twixt Aire and Calder.
Sharlston, Featherstone and Tanshelf Stations were closed in 1967, and British Rail had installed flashing lights at the Station Lane level crossing and were about to change the gates to lifting barriers in 1988. They wanted to do away with the subway at the same time, but the council refused. Photo - Alan Walker.
The station was reopened in 1992. The following two photos are by Betty Longbottom (Geograph).
The south platform.
The north platform.
The Palace cinema entrance. It was opened in 1911. As well as films there were variety concerts. It had a flat floor and a concrete wall for a screen. When the Hippodrome opened with a sloping floor and a proper screen, the Palace could not compete, and in 1918 it was changed to a billiard hall. In the 1939-45 war it was used as a first aid post for air raid casualties, which in the event never happened. Photo - Featherstone Library Collection.
When the war ended in 1945 it became a macaroni factory.
This 1974 photo by Dr J Gatecliff shows the Palace building near the end of its days. It was demolished to make way for the building shown below.
Photo - Dr J Gatecliff 1979.
Photo - Dr J Gatecliff 1986.
The Railway Hotel was probably opened just after the railway arrived in 1848. It was originally called the Heywood Arms. Photo - a postcard.
Photo - Dr J Gatecliff 1994.
Station Lane form the station to Wakefield Road has always been a mixture of shops and houses. This parade from near the Palace building to Post Office Road was probably the longest stretch of shops without a house. Photo - a postcard.
Leatham and Tews Bank at the corner of Station Lane and Maxwell Street opened in 1899. Photo - a postcard.
Although the frontage is on Station Lane, the address is 2 Maxwell Street. Photo - Barclays Bank Archives.
Barclays Bank took over Leatham and Tew in 1906. This was taken in the 1970s. Photo - Barclays Bank Archives.
Attendances for films were affected by the coming of television to Featherstone in the 1950s, so it was changed to four days films and three days bingo. This didn't work so films were discontinued in 1966.
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The Hippodrome as a bingo hall. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff 1978. It is slightly out of focus. The name over the doors is clear on the photo below from the Express.
An extension was added to the front of the Hippodrome. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff 1986.
Interest in bingo diminished and the Hippodrome was closed. Photo - Lisa Robinson (Featherstone Bygone Days).
The building was eventually demolished and the site offered for sale with planning permission for shops and flats. The were no takers and it quickly became overgrown. Photo Google Street View 2011.
The site was cleaned up and put out for rent. Photo - Google Street View 2016.
It was rented by a second hand car dealership. - Google Street View 2017.
THE HIPPODROME TO WILSON STREET
This postcard shows the shops between the Hippodrome and the Gospel Hall. Note the street gas lamp in the centre.
A float in a Sunday School parade. The shops are the same as in the photo above. Note the street lamp is now electric. The changeover was made in the winter of 1923/24, Photo - the Tony Lumb Collection.
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The same row of shops in 1983. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
Henry Gledhill, a grocer, received a pawnshop licence in 1874. He and his descendants provided a service to the community for many years. Eventually a pawnshop was not needed and a variety of shops took over. Photo - a postcard. The photo below of the same block showing two of the many changes is from the Tony Lumb Collection.
Photo - Dr J Gatecliff 1990.
Photo - personal 2019.
WILSON STREET TO THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS
Google Street View 2023.
South Featherstone Gospel Hall was founded in 1902. Photo - facebook.
The inscription over the door is the only evidence left that the area was originally called South Featherstone. Photo - George R.
The row of houses between Allison Street and Short Street (shown in the centre of this detail from a postcard) was severely damaged by two gales in the1950s and had to be demolished. It was replaced by a row of shops and flats in 1965 shown below. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
At one time nearly every shop had a shop blind or awning, now they have all gone. Photos - postcards.
The Midland Bank opened a branch in Station Lane in 1926. It was the flat roofed building just beyond the van, and was part of the block demolished to allow the building of the new library. Photo - Tony Lumb Collection.
This Dr J Gatecliff photo shows bottom right part of the land cleared for the new library.
The library and community centre was opened in 1986. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
WILSON STREET TO THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS
There were lots of off-licence shops at one time, but many have now been converted to something else. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff 1978.
The following three postcards all show the same area of Station Lane with the back-to-back streets on the left.
The gas showroom, the white building on the right, was opened in 1949. The back-to-back houses at the other side of Station Lane from Fearnley Street to Wilson Street were demolished in 1957. Photo - A postcard.
A precinct surrounded by shops was erected on the site of the back-to-back houses in 1967. The final stage of construction is shown in this Dr J Gatecliff photo.
Trees were planted and seats installed. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
The precinct in 2023. Google Street View.
A Thursday market was begun in 1982. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
The council installed a super loo in the precinct behind the bus stop. It didn't prove popular and was removed after a while. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
A memorial was installed in 1993 to mark the centenary of the riot at Ackton Hall Colliery when soldiers opened fire and two men died of their wounds. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
The main roads were lit by gas lamps in 1880. This one was at the corner of George Street and Station Lane. Photo - a postcard.
The same area in 1987. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
Looking the other way in 1983. Photo - Dr J Gatecliff.
Photo - Featherstone Library Collection.
In 1932 there was a rainstorm and the culverts couldn't cope. The bottom of Station Lane and Pontefract/Wakefield Road was flooded. Photo - Featherstone Library Collection.
A postcard showing the full length of the shopping area.
Photo - onthemarket.com 2023.
Photo - Bill Henderson (Geograph 2011).