Trivia — The Most Renamed Stations

[Dr_Paul]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed previously, but I'm wondering which stations have been renamed the most times. Looking at Connor and Halford's Forgotten Stations of Greater London, I notice that today's Clapham High Street opened as Clapham, then became Clapham and North Stockwell, then Clapham Road and North Stockwell, then back to Clapham and North Stockwell, then back to Clapham, and finally in 1989 to today's Clapham High Street. Almost as impressive, today's Highbury and Islington started as Islington, then became Islington or Highbury -- the 'or' must be unique -- then Islington and Highbury, and finally in 1872 to today's Highbury and Islington. (Downstairs, on the Great Northern and City, the station was originally called Highbury, and became Highbury and Islington in 1922.) Any other multiple name-changes around the country?

 

[Sheridan]

North Llanrwst has been changed four times, although one of them was a reversion to a previous name so it’s only had four names.

Llanrwst
Llanrwst and Trefriw
Llanrwst
Llanrwst North
North Llanrwst

 

[YorksLad12]

Best I can offer from Yorkshire (taken from that map I did) are:

Apperley Bridge
Opened in July 1846
Renamed Apperley, 1847
Renamed Apperley and Rawdon, 1 October 1890
Renamed Apperley Bridge and Rawdon, May 1893
Renamed Apperley Bridge, 12 June 1961
Closed 20 March 1965
Reopened 13 December 2015

Whitby
Opened 8 June 1835
Renamed Whitby Town, 1886
Renamed Whitby, 1924
Renamed Whitby Town, 30 September 1951
Renamed Whitby, 5 September 1966

Barnsley Interchange
Opened as Barnsley, 1 January 1850
Renamed Barnsley Low Town, 2 June 1924
Renamed Barnsley Exchange, 1 August 1924
Renamed Barnsley, 13 June 1960
Renamed Barnsley Interchange, 20 May 2007

Rotherham Masborough
Opened as Masborough, 11 May 1840
Renamed Masborough and Rotherham, 1896
Renamed Rotherham Masborough, 1908
Renamed Rotherham, 1969
Renamed Rotherham Masborough, 1987
Closed 3 October 1988

 

[MadMac]

Dunfermline Lower
Dunfermline
Dunfermline Town
Dunfermline City

 

[LUYMun]

Norwood Junction:
Jolly Sailor (1839-46)
Norwood (1846-1910)
Norwood Junction & South Norwood for Woodside (1910-55)
Norwood Junction (1955-current)

Coulsdon North:
Stoats Nest & Cane Hill (1899-1911)
Coulsdon & Smitham Downs (1911-23)
Coulsdon West (1923; lasted a month!)
Coulsdon North (1923-83)

 

[MadMac]

Kirknewton - February 1848
Midcalder & Kirknewton - April 1848
Midcalder - 1855
Kirknewton - 1982

 

[pne508]

New Malden:
Opened as Malden
New Malden and Coombe 1859
Coombe and Malden 1862
Malden for Coombe 1912
Malden 1955
New Malden 1957

 

[Rescars]

Dromore aka Gatehouse of Fleet kept changing permutations. The station was at Dromore (which is little more than a hill farm) but Gatehouse (the nearest town) was about 6 miles away, so the station was hardly convenient!

 

[pdeaves]

What constitutes 'renaming'? Particularly in early years, a station could have all sorts of names in the various timetables, sometimes multiple versions in the same publication, before that publication settled on one particular version. You might get a station named for town A, or named B (a suburb or street in town A). Either may or may not be what the railway companies used internally (also subject to variation). In my view, a name should be what was carried on the signs, but without photographic evidence, particularly in the early years, that will be almost impossible to confirm. Then you get situations like 'A-on-B' vs 'A on B' vs 'A upon B'; do those count as changes? Just like opening and closing dates, this could be a very complex and interesting debate!

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Bicester > Bicester London Road > Bicester Town > Bicester Village. I suspect Bicester Village won't be the final name that station has either.

 

[MadMac]

What constitutes 'renaming'? Particularly in early years, a station could have all sorts of names in the various timetables, sometimes multiple versions in the same publication, before that publication settled on one particular version. You might get a station named for town A, or named B (a suburb or street in town A). Either may or may not be what the railway companies used internally (also subject to variation). In my view, a name should be what was carried on the signs, but without photographic evidence, particularly in the early years, that will be almost impossible to confirm. Then you get situations like 'A-on-B' vs 'A on B' vs 'A upon B'; do those count as changes? Just like opening and closing dates, this could be a very complex and interesting debate!

Couple of examples close to one another were Cardenden for Bowhill and Markinch for Glenrothes: the “for” parts just quietly disappeared without any “formal” process. Langside and Newlands similarly lost the “and” without ceremony.

 

[Gloster]

A skim through the Complete Atlas of Railway Station Names (Dewick, Ian Allan, 2002) produces the following, if I have counted and read correctly:

Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks Tubs Hill
Sevenoaks Tubs Hill & Riverhead
Sevenoaks Tubs Hill
Sevenoaks Tubs Hill & Riverhead
Sevenoaks & Riverhead
Sevenoaks Tubs Hill
Sevenoaks (SE)
Seven Oaks


Folkestone East
Folkestone Junction
Folkestone
Folkestone Junction
Folkestone Junction (Shorncliffe)
Folkestone Junction
Folkestone Old
Folkestone

If you want different names, it was probably the Midland Harlesden, which I think had seven.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Navigation Road 1840
Aberdare Junction 1846
Abercynon 1896
Abercynon South 1988
Abercynon 2010