Reflections: How the introduction of the railway made New Milton the town it is today

How the railway made New Milton

On 27th September 1825 the Stockton and Darlington railway began operations. Britain and the world changed as railways spread around the globe connecting towns, cities and communities. It brought affordable long-distance travel to the people.

In 2025 the Railway 200 project is celebrating this important bicentenary with a series of commemorative events throughout the country. Locally events are being planned at the stations of New Milton, Sway, Brockenhurst, Ashurst and Lymington. Volunteers, supported by the St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery are preparing exhibitions which will commemorate the history of our local railways and the impact that it has had on our community.

Castleman’s Corkscrew

The first railway line through the area was the idea of Charles Castleman, a solicitor and railway planner. He proposed a westbound line from Southampton to Dorchester. It was intended that this would become part of a route from Exeter to London. A respected railway engineer, Captain William Moorsom surveyed the route. He suggested the line went via Totton, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst Road, later renamed Ashurst, Brockenhurst, Ringwood, Wimborne, Poole, Wareham and eventually arriving in Dorchester. This was not a straight route and became known as ‘Castleman’s Corkscrew’. The line would be owned by the Southampton and Dorchester Railway company but operated by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR).

After considerable disagreement between the LSWR and Charles Castleman, and difficulties in obtaining agreement from the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, the line was constructed. Castleman and Moorsom had proposed a route through the Forest that would have seen the creation of a railway station at or near Lyndhurst. However, the Commissioners of Woods and Forests objected to this, and consequently the line curved south to Brockenhurst. On 21st July 1845 Parliament passed an act authorising the new railway line. The railway was constructed in two years. Once civil engineering problems with the tunnel in Southampton had been ironed out, the line opened in August 1847.

Lymington branch line

In 1856 the Lymington Railway Act authorised the Lymington Railway Company to build a single-track line from the west of Brockenhurst railway station. At the time of its construction, it was hoped that passengers and freight, in the form of salt from the Lymington and Keyhaven saltworks would provide enough revenue to make the line financially viable. On the 8th of May 1858 the line was opened.

The line had been operated by the LSWR who bought out the Lymington Railway Company in 1879. In 1881 permission was obtained to extend the line across Lymington River and create a new terminus station called Lymington Pier. This would allowed passenger to catch the ferry to the Isle of Wight. The LSWR later bought the ferry boats that ran from Lymington to Yarmouth.

At the time the Southampton-to-Dorchester line had been planned the small coastal hamlet of Bournemouth was of no great significance. The nearest railway station on the new line was Christchurch Road, which in 1862 was renamed Holmsley. The site for this station was chosen as it sat alongside the Christchurch-to-Southampton turnpike road. Visitors to Bournemouth and Christchurch needed to take a horse-drawn coach from Holmsley to get to the coastal towns some seven miles away. However, as the Victorian love of sea bathing and holidays at the seaside grew, Bournemouth developed rapidly as a resort. On 14th March 1870 the LSWR created a branch line from Ringwood down to Bournemouth via Christchurch.

In the early 1960s Dr Richard Beeching, then chair of the British Railways board, carried out a survey of the UK railway network and how it was coping against the competition of road transport. Ignoring social costs and concentrating solely on profit and loss, he identified many small and uneconomical railway lines and stations. These were closed and dismantled, including part of the Southampton-to-Dorchester route. Passenger traffic between Lymington and Hamworthy Junction stopped on 4th May 1964. By the following year the line had been removed.

Holmsley railway station fell into a state of dereliction. It was rescued and refurbished in the 1970s and today serves the public once again, this time as a tea room. Inside are displays of the history of the line and a model of how the station looked in its heyday. Sections of the railway line have been turned into a wonderful walking route through the Forest known as Castleman Trailway.

The direct line

By the early 1880s LSWR saw the need for a more direct line to travel to the fast-growing seaside town of Bournemouth. Castleman’s Corkscrew, with a branch line from Ringwood to Bournemouth, was indirect and inefficient. By creating a direct line across the New Forest from Lymington junction west of Brockenhurst to Christchurch, it would connect with the existing railway network going onwards to Bournemouth. The new line would be 10-and-a-half miles in length, a reduction of eight-and-a-quarter miles on the existing Corkscrew line and would cut the journey time from London to Bournemouth by 40 minutes.

The LSWR solicitors opened negotiations with numerous landowners including the Office for Woods and Sir George Meyrick of Hinton. Although Sir George was initially against the idea of a railway line passing through his estate, he was persuaded to see the benefits of it by Sir Merton Russell-Cotes, the owner of the Bath Hotel in Bournemouth. He pointed out to Sir George, who owned a considerable amount of land and property in Bournemouth, that a direct line would bring benefits including an increase in land prices and higher rents and leases. Sir George successfully negotiated with the LSWR that he would be allowed to stop any train at the new station of Hinton Admiral after giving due notice.

The amount of New Forest land that the direct line would travel through from Lymington Junction to Sway parish was one-and-a-quarter mile. Permission was required from the verderers and the plans for this section of the line were submitted to the Court of Swainmote at Lyndhurst. After several months of debate the verderers gave permission provided the plans included bridges and underpasses that would allow the free movement of the commoners’ animals. These would be in addition to the four road bridges that enabled the line to go under or over the roads between Latchmoor and Sway.

An act of Parliament was passed in August 1883 authorising the construction of the line. The act specifically mentioned the cattle creeps and other accommodations for the commoners. It prohibited the LSWR from purchasing or acquiring any more Forest land than had been set aside for the construction of the line. The construction company of Kellet and Bentley were offered the contract and after a brief survey, work commenced in August 1884.

Navvies

The men constructing the line were known as ‘navvies’ or navigators. They acquired their sobriquet from building canals. They were itinerant specialists who could tunnel through hills, bridge rivers, dig cuttings and raise embankments. The navvies were usually employed on behalf of the construction companies by local ‘gangers.’ They would work while the contract lasted, moving along the railway line until either the work came to an end or the prospect of higher wages lured them elsewhere. These hard-working and hard-drinking labourers created the direct line mainly by hand and without the aid of mechanical devices. Numerous accidents took place during the construction of the line with at least 10 navvies killed and many more suffering injuries.

The navvies were often accompanied by their wives and children. They would try to get lodgings near to the worksite. It is recorded that navvies were in lodgings in Manchester Road and Brighton Road in Sway and near Ashley. When lodgings were not available, they would build encampments beside the line.

Just under a year after construction work started, Kellet and Bentley became bankrupt. Work ceased on 30th June 1885. The firm of Joseph Firbank and Co, who were experienced railway contractors, took over and work recommenced in August 1885.

The navvies came across quicksand and thick gooey clay of the Barton beds. The workman trudging home to their lodgings in Sway were covered in the yellow mud. When curious locals asked where they had been, the navvies replied that they had been down the treacle mines. For years afterwards the legend of the treacle mines of Sway persisted.

The clay caused the embankments to slip and created serious difficulties in construction of the direct line in the Sway area. Limestone and concrete revetments were constructed to hold the ground in place. Although the line and the stations were completed by 1886, it was not until 5th March 1888 that the line was opened. The instability of the land was a problem for many years afterwards. This newspaper reported on 22nd January 1949 a major embankment slippage at Mead End.

The area that saw the most dramatic change after the creation of a new railway station was to the north-east of Milton village. The station and cottages for the railway workers were constructed among farmers fields that, until a few years before, had belonged to Winchester College. The Kennard brothers, who were merchant bankers and had invested heavily in the railway, bought much of the Fernhill Manor estate. The land both north and south of the railway station was divided up into plots for building development. Manor Road, Avenue Road, and Kennard Road were created near the station. The plots were sold off in two auctions. At the same time the Barton Court estate was being developed into housing with the first auction of land being held on 11th July 1894.

Soon after the opening of the railway line, a Winchester brewer, Hugh Wyeth, saw an opportunity to develop the land around the railway station. He built the Milton Hotel beside the station and a hall and two shops opposite the southern entrance to Station Approach. Opposite the Milton Hotel was a motor garage run by Fred Keeping. Next door was a sub-post office which was later moved to the corner of Whitefield Road. In 1896 the postmistress was Mrs Emma Newhook who started to call her post office ‘New’ Milton as there was already a post office in Milton village. In 1897 the LSWR named their station ‘New’ Milton. A row of shops was built from Station Approach down to the corner of Whitefield Road. The railway was used by local farmers and businesses to transport their goods and produce. New Milton started to grow.

As reported in last week’s A&T, on 15th March a mural was unveiled by the Friends of New Milton Station on the London-bound side. The painting, by local artist Nicky Judd, consists of four panels showing a train changing and evolving as it travels through the history of New Milton. Different aspects of the history linked to the railway are depicted, including the navvies and the Indian soldiers who came to the New Forest to recover from their wounds in the First World War.

The arrival of the railway in this region has created a new town and linked previously remote New Forest communities. It has brought trade and prosperity to the area. The 200th anniversary is well worth celebrating.

If you would like to become involved in the Railway 200 commemorations in your local area, contact Nick Saunders who will put you in touch with your nearest group.

• Nick Saunders MA is a local historian and chair of the Milton Heritage Society in New Milton. He is contactable via nick@miltonheritagesociety.co.uk