Darras Hall Station, Later a Church

Now only remembered in the name Old Station Court, this was the site of Darras Hall’s short lived railway station.

The station was inaugurated in 1913 in what must have been a unusual sight. At that stage the estate had its major roads and the building plots were staked out but there were just a handful of new houses on the whole estate which consisted of almost a thousand acres. Despite this, expectations were high and the new station was built in what was planned to be the centre of the estate.

The station itself was constructed out of wood but had what was then a very modern appearance with a sharply pitched roof. The building was single storey with twin pavilions at each end with the gables decorated with mock-Tudor half-timber design. Between the pavilions there was a verandah providing shelter and supported by six pillars. It is interesting that two other buildings erected in Ponteland around this time; The Bungalow and the Dairy Café had very similar designs.

Inside the station building there were first- and second-class waiting rooms, a booking hall and a parcel office. Detached from the main building there was the porter’s accommodation, store rooms and toilets – all for a total population which could not have numbered more than thirty at the time.

Unsurprisingly, the station was not a financial success. The intervention of the First World War and the financially troubled times of the 1920’s meant the estate did not live up to its initial expectations. There were less than 100 people living on it in the 1921 census. The station was closed to passenger traffic in 1929, along with the main station in Ponteland.

The buildings survived and in 1963 it was taken over by Ponteland’s Presbyterian congregation and converted into a church. Ponteland’s first resident Presbyterian minister and his wife had the converted station master’s house for their manse. In 1972 the Presbyterians merged with the Congregationalists to become the United Reformed Church. In 1973 they moved into a new purpose-built church on Broadway which has recently closed.

In 1993 the Railway Land was developed as 20 two bedroomed bungalows by Barratt’s working in conjunction with the Darras Hall Estate Committee who obtained a new office in the process. These bungalows were designed for people aged over fifty who lived or had relatives living at Darras Hall. These are now known as Old Station Court.