History

In it's early history, one of the safest ways to reach Spalding was by water, from the coast from Boston or Lynn, etc. and also from higher ground inland.  In early times the Priors of Spalding had constructed a causeway across Deeping Fen, but this was very poorly maintained and very hazardous to use.  There were only 2 high roads from Spalding- one east through to the Nene at Wisbech and the other went north through Pinchbeck and Gosberton to Donington, which then linked on to a road to Boston.

 Over the years the roads improved and by the end of the 18 th Century stage coach services had started running.  The first service ran from London to Boston via Peterborough and Spalding and ran 3 times a week.  Around 1800 another coach service was introduced, running between Boston and Stamford via Spalding and in 1807 when the Deeping Fen area was enclosed and drained and the roads were safer and passable through-out the winter, the Royal Mail changed the transportation of the mail to coach instead of horseback and offered a daily service to London, and others soon followed and by 1826 there were 3 daily services through the town.  These years were the hey-day of the coaching era, but it was already clear that the expansion of the railways would bring change.

 In 1846 Stations opened in Lincoln and Stamford and work started on the Spalding line in early 1847 and the Station opened on the 17 th October 1848 with a loop line between Peterborough and Lincoln.

Taken from an engraving in the Illustrated London News on the 11 th November 1848

   The main goods transported at this time were cattle, salt, wheat, flour and coal and by March 1849 700 passengers and 500 tons of goods were being transported every week.  Over the next few years more lines converged on Spalding, bringing with it the need for more platforms and buildings.  Branch lines were opened to Holbeach (1858), Bourne (1866), and March (1867), there was also a “bypass line” for trains on the Bourne to Holbeach line to avoid Spalding station.

EXTERNAL LINKS OF INTEREST

Pictures of the changes in Spalding station

Pictures of Spalding station in the Early 60's/Late 50's

Over the years the roads and the road network continued to improve and the first motor car came through the town in 1899 on its way from London to Skegness, and the first car was owned in Spalding in 1901 (by a lady!).

 By 1900 Spalding railways had reached their maximum extent and the early 1900s were busy times, especially with the booming bulb and flower industry transporting their flowers to London by railway – “Flower Specials” left Spalding nightly carrying blooms all around the country, during the peak period about 40,000 boxes being despatched weekly.

Click The Thumbnail Image Above To See A Map of All The Railways and Links Spalding Has Had.

However, with the increase in road traffic, during the late 1950s the local railway began to decline, with lines gradually closing down and the station buildings and site being reduced, and we are now left with only the one line running from Peterborough to Lincoln and the original 1848 station building.

Information taken from “Spalding – An Industrial History” by Neil Wright

                                “Aspects of Spalding 1790-1930” by Norman Leveritt and Michael J. Elsden