Brockley Station - the shocking truth

Design for London - the Mayor's design advisers - have carried out a heritage audit of the East London Line's stations as part of the preparation for the modernisation programme due to take place at stations along the line over the next three years.

The report concluded that... Brockley Station has "little of heritage value except for the footbridge linking the two platforms, which is of some interest. There is therefore significant scope for new station facilities to improve passenger amenities."

So while the prefab hut didn't seduce them, they do compliment the recent landscaping and reveal some interesting details about the station's history:

Brockley Station was opened in 1871 - hitherto there were no intermediate stations between New Cross Gate and Forest Hill as the line passed through farmland with little settlement.


In the 1850s and 1860s the area to the east of the railway grew rapidly as large family houses were built on broad tree lined streets. In 1872 the rival London, Chatham & Dover Railway opened a station called Brockley Lane immediately to the east of the overbridge which crossed over the platforms of Brockley Station.


This was served by Victoria to Greenwich Park services until the station closed in 1917.


There was a substantial two  storey gabled station building on the west (up) side fronting Mantle Road and another single storey red-brick building on the down platform, both with generous canopies.

The existing station building is a prefabricated 1960s structure on the east side which replaced the 1871 station. The system-built CLASP (Consortium of Local Authorities Special Projects) structure is of a type widely used by the public sector in this decade especially for schools, hospitals and railways. It is a two storey flat roofed utilitarian structure composed of concrete panels. 


The lack of architectural merit in what remains should mean an uncomplicated modernisation programme (hinted at by the signs up currently, saying that work has begun to lengthen the platforms to accommodate longer trains - has anyone seen any evidence of this work?) over the next few years.

You can download the report here, including some great pictures of the station and its verdict on other stops along the line. Thanks to Barry for sending it to us.