Trivia: Stations named after buildings.

[snookertam]

Glasgow Subway stations:
Kelvinhall
St Enoch

and, if we include bridges?
Kelvinbridge

Well...

Kelvinhall is a yes.
St Enoch is named after St Enoch square in which it’s located. St Enoch for the uninitiated was the mother of Glasgow’s patron saint, St Mungo.

Kelvinbridge is also a no! Or might be a yes.... The adjacent bridge is actually called Great Western Bridge. Don’t know why the station got given its name other than it being a bridge over the Kelvin. So it might sort of be named after a building? Either way, the surrounding area now gets known as Kelvinbridge mainly because of the subway station.

 

[xotGD]

Five Ways is named after a roundabout. Not really a building but surely unique?

 

[AlbertBeale]

Five Ways is named after a roundabout. Not really a building but surely unique?

Unique? Piccadilly Circus??

 

[xotGD]

Unique? Piccadilly Circus??

Ha! Yes! OK, unique among mainline stations?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Squires Gate

What building is this area of Blackpool named after?

There used to be a pub called the Squires Gate.

Seems that Squires Gate was named after, erm, a gate.

Apparently, in 1609 the boundary between Lytham and Layton moved to a ditch down Little Marton Lane, this was renamed Squires Gate Lane, in recognition of the then land owner, Squire Cuthbert Clifton, after a gate which had been erected to separate Lytham from the fast expanding Blackpool.

Although there may well have been a (now closed) public house of the name in the area in more recent times, clearly the station wasn't named after the pub, but the locality.

 

[Western 52]

I will give one, that I think will be difficult to top....... Bungalow Town Halt!

Opened pre war to the west of the River Adur bridge at Shoreham by sea sussex, renamed Shoreham Airport, and closed after the outbreak of W.W.2!

Also there is a stop called Bungalow on the Snaefell Mountain Railway of course.

 

[High Dyke]

Debateably, any station in a location that ends in Ton, Ham or By have their origins in a homestead or farmstead belonging to someone. The naming of Stewartby, as previously described, illustrates this point well. Other stations, such as Grantham, are named after a homestead by a gravel pool, and not as belonging to a person called Granta, as first thought.

Depends whether a bridge a building or a structure, I'll bow to the superior collective wisdom on this one.

Arguably a bridge, like a road, is a structure; even though you build bridges and roads. You don't structure such things.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Arguably a bridge, like a road, is a structure; even though you build bridges and roads. You don't structure such things.

Surely you "construct" them?

 

[AlbertBeale]

Ha! Yes! OK, unique among mainline stations?

And of course there's also Oxford Circus - though I'm unclear that that ever was really a roundabout, whereas Piccadilly Circus was for many many years.

Another LU one I've just remembered - I don't think anyone else has mentioned it - which was half named after a building is "Hillingdon [for Swakeleys]", or something like that - not absolutely sure about the brackets. I remember that years ago the station roundels had "Swakeleys" as well as "Hillingdon" on them (Swakeleys being Swakeleys House, between Hillingdon and Ickenham). I think the station had that double name officially for some years, and the signage on the station itself continued long afterwards. (I remember it from, I guess, the '60, when I lived out that end of town.) I've hardly ventured on that stretch of the tube in (probably) decades now, so I have no idea whether (and if so, when) the Swakeleys name has been taken off the station signage.

 

[snookertam]

Ha! Yes! OK, unique among mainline stations?

Charing Cross in Glasgow is also named after a road junction.

Also, can we have Singer, also on the North Clyde route. Took its name from the old singer sewing machine factory in Clydebank that it served. The factory is long gone but the name remains. I think that would be one for named after a building.

 

[fairysdad]

Could I potentially suggest LU's Shepherd's Bush Market? Renamed (relatively) recently to avoid confusion with Shepherd's Bush after the eponymous market - though I'm not sure if it's a one-building market with many stalls under one roof or a number of individual outdoor stalls!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Charing Cross in Glasgow is also named after a road junction.

Also, can we have Singer, also on the North Clyde route. Took its name from the old singer sewing machine factory in Clydebank that it served. The factory is long gone but the name remains. I think that would be one for named after a building.

Surely Singer is named after the company rather than a specific building? The now-closed Ampress Works Halt on the Lymington branch would qualify though.

 

[John Griffiths]

Haymarket (T&WM) was named after Haymarket, a wide street/open area, not a market building. It had previously been called The Parade Ground.

Regent Centre (T& W M) is named for an office park (a collection of buildings), itself named after the Regent pit of Coxlodge Colliery, the pit being named after the Prince Regent. The station itself, in NER/LNER days, was called West Gosforth.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Could I potentially suggest LU's Shepherd's Bush Market? Renamed (relatively) recently to avoid confusion with Shepherd's Bush after the eponymous market - though I'm not sure if it's a one-building market with many stalls under one roof or a number of individual outdoor stalls!

Not exactly a building - it runs alongside the railway viaduct - though I suppose there is continuous infrastructure involved which might constitute a "building" in some senses.

 

[LOL The Irony]

On the Blackpool Tramway, you have:

Fleetwood Ferry
Rossall School
Cabin
Cliffs Hotel
North Pier
Tower
Central Pier
South Pier
Pleasure Beach

And soon to be North Station

 

[Nick_C]

The Volks Electric Railway in Brighton has stations named after the Aquarium and Palace Pier.

 

[6026KingJohn]

Five Ways is named after a roundabout. Not really a building but surely unique?

When I went to school at Five Ways there wasn't a roundabout! (or, indeed, a station in the 1950s, but the current station reopened on the site of the original which was only closed as a temporary measure in 1942 due to the war)

 

[Bedpan]

Another LU one I've just remembered - I don't think anyone else has mentioned it - which was half named after a building is "Hillingdon [for Swakeleys]", or something like that - not absolutely sure about the brackets. I remember that years ago the station roundels had "Swakeleys" as well as "Hillingdon" on them (Swakeleys being Swakeleys House, between Hillingdon and Ickenham). I think the station had that double name officially for some years, and the signage on the station itself continued long afterwards. (I remember it from, I guess, the '60, when I lived out that end of town.) I've hardly ventured on that stretch of the tube in (probably) decades now, so I have no idea whether (and if so, when) the Swakeleys name has been taken off the station signage.

On the main line out of Waterloo, before Esher was "Esher for Sandown Park" it was "Esher for Claremont", even though Claremont, an 18th Century palladian mansion, would have been about an hour's walk away. I think that Claygate was also "Claygate for Claremont" once.

 

[John Griffiths]

Five Ways is named after a roundabout. Not really a building but surely unique?

A similar name is Four Lane Ends (T&WM), which might more concisely have been called 'Crossroads'. But not a building, so...

 

[urbophile]

Depends whether a bridge a building or a structure, I'll bow to the superior collective wisdom on this one.

Notable bridges are included in Dr Pevsner's Buildings of England series. So I'd say they are.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Old London Bridge had houses and shops on it. Does that count?

Several Underground stations are named after pre-existing main line stations, which are undoubtedly buildings. Indeed, we have eight stations in a row on the District Line named after buildings
Tower Hill (the Tower of London)
Monument (has stairs and everything)
Cannon Street (main line station)
Mansion House (the Lord Mayor's des res)
Blackfriars (the friary: the main line station was named later to match)
Temple (church)
Charing Cross (as was: main line station)
Westminster (Palace, itself named after the abbey (Minster))

 

[midland1]

Waterloo, it was first called Waterloo Bridge it was named after the bridge not the battle.

 

[webbfan]

Crewe named after Crewe Hall. Ok one of those which came first - Station or town, without checking would guess was the Station.

 

[Bedpan]

Waterloo, it was first called Waterloo Bridge it was named after the bridge not the battle.

Yes, good one! (As long as we allow bridges, that is). The station wasn't renamed Waterloo until 1882, and you could argue that the fact that the first bridge happened to be named after the battle is immaterial.

 

[Sprinter107]

If bridges can be used, does Smethwick Galton Bridge count ? Galton Bridge was built in 1829 so was there before the railway.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Crewe named after Crewe Hall. Ok one of those which came first - Station or town, without checking would guess was the Station.

Possibly not.

Mention of the name 'Creu' in the Domesday book. Locality became established as the township of Crewe in medieval times (in reality, a small village). Name derives from the Welsh for weir in a river.

Crewe Hall came much later, built over several years just before the English Civil War in the 17th Century. Crewe railway station when built (opened in 1837) named after the township of Crewe. Modern day Crewe then established around the railway station of that name. Original township of Crewe (smaller, separate place) subsequently renamed as Crewe Green.

 

[webbfan]

Possibly not.

Mention of the name 'Creu' in the Domesday book. Locality became established as the township of Crewe in medieval times (in reality, a small village). Name derives from the Welsh for weir in a river.

Crewe Hall came much later, built over several years just before the English Civil War in the 17th Century. Crewe railway station when built (opened in 1837) named after the township of Crewe. Modern day Crewe then established around the railway station of that name. Original township of Crewe (smaller, separate place) subsequently renamed as Crewe Green.

Thank you an interesting snippet that must remember, especially Crue - are the Welsh that concise very often ?

 

[Mrs. Fortescue]

Ninian Park.

Named after Cardiff City’s old ground, which was located nearby.

 

[Sparrowman]

It wasn't specified whether or not they had to be National Rail stations, so Trafford Centre on the Manchester Metrolink could be another one.

Edit: Also Imperial War Museum on the same line.

On the Ashton line you have Clayton Hall.

You could potentially include Velopark and Etihad Campus (on the same line), however these are more a collection of buildings.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Have we had Olympia yet? Originally Kensington and then Kensington (Addison Road), it was renamed after the Olympia exhibition centre across the road, opened in 1886.