Stephenson roundhouse remains uncovered at Birmingham HS2 site
THE remains of what is thought to be the world’s oldest roundhouse have been discovered during the building of Birmingham’s High Speed 2 terminus at Curzon Street.
The roundhouse was sited next to the original Curzon Street station, which served the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway and which was downgraded to a single goods station when Birmingham New Street was opened in 1854.
The roundhouse, built to Robert Stephenson design, was operational on November 12, 1837.
As such, it is two years older than the roundhouse in Derby, which was previously thought to be the world’s oldest.
Post-rail use
The London & Birmingham’s roundhouse at the southern end of the line, which opened in 1847, saw far better days after its rail use ended, and it was reincarnated as the Roundhouse music venue in Camden.
The archaeological excavations undertaken early this year uncovered the Birmingham roundhouse and other historic railway structures for the first time, including the remains of the Grand Junction Railway terminus.
Undertaken ahead of the construction of the new Curzon Street station, archaeologists will record the historical significance for the site and determine whether the remains can be preserved in situ.
Running from Curzon Street to Euston, the 112-mile London & Birmingham Railway took 20,000 men nearly five years to build.
Centrepiece of the Birmingham terminus was the neoclassical station entrance which has survived and will become a focal point of the development. The Grade I listed building is the world’s oldest surviving piece of monumental railway architecture.
The uncovered remains show evidence of the base of the central turntable, the exterior wall and the inspection pits that surrounded it.
Jon Millward, historic environment adviser at HS2 Ltd, said: “The discovery of what could be the world’s oldest railway roundhouse on the site of the new HS2 station in Birmingham city centre is extraordinary and fitting as we build the next generation of Britain’s railways.”
Excavations
A team of 70 archaeologists spent last year excavating a 19th-century Victorian burial ground in Birmingham’s Park Street, where a HS2 station is planned. Historical artefacts including figurines, coins, toys and necklaces inside coffins were discovered.
Along with the thousands of skeletons, these items will now be examined and informed by historical documents, such as parish records and wills, to develop detailed biographies of the individuals.
The new Curzon Street station – the first inter-city terminus to be built in Birmingham since the 19th century – will have close links with the city’s Moor Street, which served the last major trunk route built in the UK in the steam age, part of the GWR line from the industrial West Midlands to South Wales which opened in 1908.
The surviving northern section of that route is now being marketed as
the Shakespeare Line, with the aim of taking international visitors who arrive at the new Curzon Street to Stratford-upon-avon.
Vintage Trains last June signed a partnership deal with the West Midlands Rail Executive, a group of 16 local authorities, which will see the Tyseley-based Train Operating Company use steam to play a much bigger part in promoting regional tourism using the double-tracked route with its wealth of original stations as a ‘heritage main line.’
Passenger numbers at Moor Street are expected to grow from seven million to 12 million a year by 2043, with further increases expected as a result of the arrival of HS2 in 2026.
Plans for Birmingham’s ‘One
Station’ strategy will aim to create seamless links between Moor Street, Curzon Street and New Street stations.
The plans include a new transfer deck with access to every platform and links to a new footbridge taking passengers directly to HS2 services from Curzon Street via a new public square.
There are also several options to improve pedestrian access between Moor Street and New Street, including a safe, well-lit and direct route via St Martin’s Queensway; new steps and a ramp at Swan Passage, adjacent to the new Primark development, and a new ramped route from Rotunda Square to New Street station.