The watercress line.
This week's Saturday Timewatch features a local curiosity revealed by very low water levels in a local stream. If you look carefully at the bottom right corner, you will see the remains of a railway line. Knowing something of the history of the area, we took a guess that it was the remains of an old watercress railway.
Fortunately, a gentleman to whom we have spoken before, just happened to return to his adjacent house with shopping. So we asked him and yes, our guess was correct! There is little information on the internet despite a thriving local history group. However, the gentleman confirmed some basic details.
His father, from whom he inherited the adjacent house, moved in during 1986 by which time the watercress operation had ceased, probably in the late 70s. He told us the house previously belonged to the owners of the watercress company. However, they only visited from Hertfordshire during holidays leaving a local old lady living there as caretaker. At least part of the gentleman's current garage was the packing shed for the cress. Therefore the assumption is that the product was transported the few hundred yards from the cress beds to the shed along the rail line. He didn't know the means of propulsion but it is likely to have been either by manpower or more likely horse-drawn. This remnant of track almost certainly followed a slightly different line to where it was unexpectedly exposed by the summer drought today.
As for the watercress beds, they probably operated for around 75 years. Wessex Water now use the site as a sewage works for the local village of Broadmayne. However, a thriving watercress bed operation still exists barely a mile further downstream!
The watercress line.
This week's Saturday Timewatch features a local curiosity revealed by very low water levels in a local stream. If you look carefully at the bottom right corner, you will see the remains of a railway line. Knowing something of the history of the area, we took a guess that it was the remains of an old watercress railway.
Fortunately, a gentleman to whom we have spoken before, just happened to return to his adjacent house with shopping. So we asked him and yes, our guess was correct! There is little information on the internet despite a thriving local history group. However, the gentleman confirmed some basic details.
His father, from whom he inherited the adjacent house, moved in during 1986 by which time the watercress operation had ceased, probably in the late 70s. He told us the house previously belonged to the owners of the watercress company. However, they only visited from Hertfordshire during holidays leaving a local old lady living there as caretaker. At least part of the gentleman's current garage was the packing shed for the cress. Therefore the assumption is that the product was transported the few hundred yards from the cress beds to the shed along the rail line. He didn't know the means of propulsion but it is likely to have been either by manpower or more likely horse-drawn. This remnant of track almost certainly followed a slightly different line to where it was unexpectedly exposed by the summer drought today.
As for the watercress beds, they probably operated for around 75 years. Wessex Water now use the site as a sewage works for the local village of Broadmayne. However, a thriving watercress bed operation still exists barely a mile further downstream!