Monks Siding Signal Box

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Signal box built 1875 retaining its original lever frame, London and North Western Railway Type 3 design of 1874. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1412064
Date first listed:: 21-Nov-2013
List Entry Name:: Monks Siding Signal Box

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1412064
Date first listed:: 21-Nov-2013
List Entry Name:: Monks Siding Signal Box
Location Description:: Signal box sited at SJ 59183 87712 adjacent to the Quay Loop level crossing next to the Coach and Horses Public House, Old Liverpool Road, Warrington.

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Warrington (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SJ5918387712

Summary

Signal box built 1875 retaining its original lever frame, London and North Western Railway Type 3 design of 1874.

Reasons for Designation

Monks Siding Signal Box is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Representative: as a good example of the London and North Western Railway first in-house designed standardised signal box, the LNWR Type 3; * Interior: for the retention of the original lever frame dating to 1875

History

From the 1840s, huts or cabins were provided for men operating railway signals. These were often located on raised platforms containing levers to operate the signals and in the early 1860s, the fully glazed signal box, initially raised high on stilts to give a good view down the line, emerged. The interlocking of signals and points, perhaps the most important single advance in rail safety, patented by John Saxby in 1856, was the final step in the evolution of railway signalling into a form recognisable today. Signal boxes were built to a great variety of different designs and sizes to meet traffic needs by signalling contractors and the railway companies themselves.

Signal box numbers peaked at around 12,000-13,000 for Great Britain just prior to the First World War and successive economies in working led to large reductions in their numbers from the 1920s onwards. British Railways inherited around 10,000 in 1948 and numbers dwindled rapidly to about 4000 by 1970. In 2012, about 750 remained in use; it was anticipated that most would be rendered redundant over the next decade.

The London and North Western Railway initially employed the signalling contractors Saxby and Farmer for signalling equipment including signal boxes. From 1874, provision of new signalling was taken in-house using the company's main engineering works at Crewe. The first design (now known as the LNWR Type 3) was quickly superseded by the Type 4 by 1876. The principal difference between the designs was that the Type 3 had a hipped roof rather than a gabled roof. Monks Crossing Signal Box was built in 1875 and still retains its original 20-lever LNWR Tumbler frame. Monks Siding was originally a passenger line, but was reduced to goods only in circa 1970. In 1976 the adjacent level crossing was widened, with the operating room entrance (with steps) being moved to the opposite end of the signal box. The signal box was re-windowed in 2003 and was re-signalled in 2012 (but with the lever frame retained).

Details

Railway signal box, 1875, by and for the London and North Western Railway, Type 3 design of 1874.

MATERIALS: brick base laid in English Bond, with timber upper floor with horizontal weatherboarding; uPVC windows; Welsh slate roof finished with grey hip and ridge tiles.

EXTERIOR: the signal box is of two storeys and two bays with a hipped roof. The operating room is continuously glazed to the front (north-west) and sides, with a single window to the rear overlooking the approach to the adjacent level crossing. The replacement windows do not follow the same glazing pattern as the originals. The entrance to the operating floor is now in the south-western end accessed via an external flight of steel steps. The original position of the door in the north-eastern end is marked by a change in weatherboarding and a window with a raised sill. The door to the locking room is below, in its original position. This has a segmental arched head of brick headers. The two locking room windows overlooking the tracks have similar arched heads and also retain timber joinery with 4-pane fixed lights.

INTERIOR: the signal box retains its original 20-lever London and North Western Railway Tumbler frame.

Sources

Books and journals
The Signalling Study Group, , The Signal Box: A Pictorial History and Guide to Designs, (1986), 148-149

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.