Great Packington, Warwickshire: One Place Study.
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Roads and Railways.
Medieval Turnpike Road.
A medieval turnpike road crossed through Great Packington until the 1700s, which would have been paid for by a toll. Medieval artifacts have been found nearby to the route of the road, including a spindle whorl, pottery shards and button.
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A diversion to the route was proposed by Capability Brown in his 1751 plan for the transformation of the ground of Packington Hall. Peter King has written about the road and it's 18th century diversion in the Journal of the Railway & Canal Historical Society:
'Yet another road northwest from Coventry separated from those described at Meriden itself, somewhat before Stonebridge. It passed through what is now Great Packington Park and crossed the river Blythe into Coleshill. This was diverted in 1760 so as to diverge from the rest just west of Stonebridge, under an Act of Parliament obtained by the principal residents of Packington ... adding an extra mile to the road. It was unusual for a private individual to cause a turnpike to be diverted in this way, but may have been due to the loss of its bridge over the Blythe. From Coleshill, it continued to Lichfield and Rugeley. It then crossed the river Trent at Wolseley Bridge, and followed the Trent valley to Stone.'​
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Later road use.
In 1761, substantial repairs were made to the road between Meridan Heath and Stonebridge in the parishes of Great Packington and Little Packington, costing approximately £200. They were further repaired after an act passed in 1825.
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In 1878 a coaching route was introduced in Warwickshire, travelling from Coventry to Birmingham. The coach would be a four horse drawn carriage with a change of horses at Packington Hall.
Article from the Coleshill Chronicle, 13 April 1878.
Credit: FindMyPast.
Railways.
Great Packington's nearest railway station is at Hampton-in-Arden, Warwickshire. This is a junction station that was historically served by the Midland Railways Whitacre to Hampton-in-Arden line and the Birmingham to Derby Junction Railways Stonebridge line. All trains that stop at Hampton-in-Arden today are operated by West Midlands trains as part of the Birmingham New Street to London Euston service.
Hampton's original train station opened in April 1838, with passenger announcements sounded by a hand bell. A new station was erected in 1884 by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). The old station bungalow, ticket and parcel buildings still stand and are Grade II listed buildings. The old locomotive shed was converted to a sawmill with a small portion of the railway retained to serve the mill.
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Whitacre to Hampton-in-Arden line timetable, 1853.
Credit: Warwickshire Railways.
The Whitacre to Hampton-in-Arden line was opened in 1839 with a double track line but was downgraded to a single track between August 1842 and March 1843. This is thought to be the first railway 'singling' in history. After this, there were 2 daily passenger trains from 1859 and then a single daily morning passenger train from 1877. This was operated by one engine with one coach and one conductor, so was dubbed 'the line of ones' by an American mechanical magazine. Goods trains would also use the line, depositing items like coal or cattle feed at the sidings for Packington Estate and Maxstoke Castle, up until 1951 when the track was removed. Packington's siding could accommodate the storage of 8 wagons.
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Due to wartime economy measures the Stonebridge line lost its passenger service in 1917. After a bridge at Packington was found to be too weak to support a train and failed a safety inspection the line was completely closed in 1935.
View from Bridge No 22 towards Packington Sidings in the distance, 1921.
Credit: Warwickshire Railways.
Hampton-in-Arden station sign today.
Credit: Flickr.
Sources:
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Historic England.
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Journals of the House of Commons. (1803). United Kingdom: H.M. Stationery Office. p. 1024.
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King, Peter. (2007) Medieval Turnpikes. In: Journal of the Railway & Canal Historical Society. Vol. 35 No. 10. Special 200th edn. Stafford: Counter Print. pp. 740-746.
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Maggs, Colin (2011) The Branch Lines of Warwickshire. Stroud: Amberley Publishing Limited.
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Our Warwickshire.
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​Tyack, Geoffrey. (1980) Warwickshire Country Houses in the Age of Classicism, 1650-1800. Warwickshire: Warwickshire Local History Society.
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UK & Irish Railways.
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Warwickshire Railways.