Chesterton Junction

Chesterton Junction

History of Chesterton Junction

Railway Cottages at Chesterton Junction: Life Between the Tracks
For more than a century, a small community of railway workers and their families lived at Chesterton Junction, on a narrow triangle of land enclosed by railway lines beside the River Cam. Situated close to the original Chesterton Station and now largely occupied by the southern end of Cambridge North Station, these cottages formed one of the most unusual railway settlements in Britain.

Built in the early railway era, the cottages housed platelayers, signalmen, pointsmen and their families employed by the Eastern Counties Railway and later the Great Eastern Railway. Unlike the better-known railway cottages on Mill Road, the houses at Chesterton Junction stood literally between active railway tracks. Residents crossed the railway as part of everyday life, whether travelling to work, visiting allotments, collecting washing from nearby meadows or simply leaving home.

The community became known locally as “The Junction” or “The Fort”, dominated by a distinctive faceted Victorian house often mistaken for the original Chesterton Station building. Census records show a close-knit community of railway families, including the Rickwoods, Middletons, Rivetts, Utteridges and Vails, many of whom served successive generations on the railway.

Life at the Junction was shaped by both opportunity and danger. Railway employment offered steady wages and tied housing, yet the location exposed residents to constant risk. Coroners repeatedly described the cottages as being in a “dangerous position”. In 1873 Susan Middleton was killed while walking along the line, prompting demands for a safer footpath. In 1885 four-year-old Rose Rickwood was fatally struck by a train after leaving the cottage compound. Railway accidents, derailments and fatalities were a recurring feature of life around the Junction.

The area was also surrounded by other industrial activities. Gravel pits, railway sidings, pumping stations and sewage infrastructure formed part of the landscape. Residents endured soot from passing locomotives, contaminated wells and the smells of nearby industrial works. Despite these challenges, the Junction remained home to generations of railway families until the mid-1960s, when the cottages were demolished to make way for a new Permanent Way Depot.

Today no visible trace of the cottages survives, but the story of Chesterton Junction preserves an important chapter in Cambridge’s railway heritage. It reminds us that the growth of the railways depended not only on locomotives and engineering, but also on the families who lived and worked alongside the tracks.

Francesca Cambridge Mallen’s Railway Cottages in a “Dangerous Position”: Remembering the Original Cambridge North Station Community at Chesterton Junction

 

Francesca Mallen’s study reconstructs the history of a forgotten railway settlement that existed for more than a century at Chesterton Junction, on the site now partly occupied by Cambridge North Station.

The study begins with the Rickwood family, whose members lived and worked at the Junction across several generations. Through family history, census records, newspaper reports and railway sources, the author explores the lives of platelayers, signalmen and their families who occupied railway-owned cottages enclosed by active railway lines.

A major contribution of the research is the reconstruction of the physical layout of Chesterton Junction. Using historic maps, photographs and documentary evidence, the author identifies the likely location of the original Chesterton Station, examines the distinctive “round house” at the apex of the junction, and traces the arrangement of the cottages, footpaths, pumping station and allotments.

The central argument of the work is that Chesterton Junction was not merely a workplace but a hazardous living environment. Railway workers accepted occupational risks, but their wives and children were also exposed to those dangers because everyday life required crossing railway lines and moving through active railway infrastructure. Coroners repeatedly criticised the location of the cottages, describing them as being in a dangerous position and unsuitable for habitation.

Several tragic incidents are examined in detail. These include the death of Susan Middleton in 1873 and the death of four-year-old Rose Rickwood in 1885. Both cases highlighted the inadequacy of access arrangements and prompted criticism of railway management. The author argues that the railway company’s provision of allotments beyond the tracks effectively encouraged residents, including children, to cross the railway regularly.

The study also places Chesterton Junction within wider railway history. It documents derailments, collisions and fatalities on the line between Barnwell and Chesterton, an area described in contemporary newspapers as notorious for accidents. The experiences of Junction residents are linked to broader developments in workplace safety, railway regulation and public expectations of corporate responsibility.

Beyond railway safety, the work reveals aspects of everyday life, including housing conditions, contaminated water supplies, allotments, industrial pollution and the social networks that bound railway families together. It demonstrates how railway employment created stability and community while simultaneously exposing workers and their families to extraordinary risks.

The study ultimately serves as both a memorial to former residents and a significant contribution to Cambridge’s social and railway history, restoring visibility to a community that disappeared when the cottages were demolished in the 1960s.