Relic

The creation of the Banbury to Cheltenham railway was a messy business: piecemeal, financially constrained, hit by numerous setbacks - both on the ground and in the corridors of power. It was built primarily to service industry: initially the delivery of finished product from the woollen tweed mill in Chipping Norton; subsequently the bulk transport of iron ore that was quarried south west of Banbury (including large areas around our village) to iron works in South Wales. A rural passenger service piggy-backed on the freight traffic

Work began in 1854 - the first section funded by private investors, led by the mill owners in Chipping Norton - but the entire route did not open until 1887, half a lifetime later. The section through our village was one of the most problematic and expensive, requiring huge earthworks: raised embankments, deep cuttings and a sizeable tunnel. In addition the line here required two viaducts, comprising steel girders resting on tall stone columns

The line was fully operational until 1951, when the passenger service was withdrawn on part of the route. In an echo of the way it came into being, its closure also took place in fits and starts, the entire line being finally closed in 1969. The line and steel girders were removed, but the stone columns remain - an incongruous presence in a landscape that has returned to rural rhythms

This structure was at one end of a viaduct - surprising us a little in the overgrown gloom, as we squeezed a walk into the end of the day. Ignored and forgotten, no longer having a purpose, it simply endures, whispering to us of the past