Site Records

Site Name: Bishopsgate Goods Station (Goodsyard)

Shoreditch High Street
London, E1
OS Grid Ref: TQ335822

Sub Brit site visits 1967, 1969, February 1982 & September 1995

Beyond Wheler Street, the lower rail level was served by a set of three central railway tracks, linked to the third hydraulic truck hoist up to the goods yard above. Again there were turntables leading to transverse sections and at two points to transverse lines providing access to a fourth outer track where goods could be directly loaded or unloaded to or from railway wagons. In addition to stores and offices located at various points, there were workshops for repairs to the building and repairs to road and rail vehicles. Stairways also led down to a number of sub-basement store rooms at the same level as the main line into Liverpool Street Station. Amongst other things one of these sub-basement levels was used for the storage of Great Eastern Railway personnel files, many of which were still there during a survey of the station in 1995.

The upper level warehouse, which extended over the entire covered area of the station, was the most distinctive feature of the depot. It had a floor space of no les than 158,000 square feet and was served by the various bays, these operated in conjunction with an overhead conveyor, on the Commercial Street side. This conveyor also served a roller-way that linked to an incline elevator up from the fruit platform which allowed goods to be transferred to any part of the depot by a combined use of the conveyors and overhead cranes. Four hydraulic lifts also connected the warehouse with the upper rail level below.

Fighting the fire in 1964

In 1933 the total number of staff employed at Bishopsgate was 1,020 with a further 450 at Spitalfields. The goods station remained in use until the upper level warehouse was destroyed by fire on 5th December 1964. Following the fire the remains of the warehouse were removed leaving the upper rail level platforms open to the air. Spitalfields Goods Station, to the east of Bishopsgate, remained open until 1967.

Within a few years of the fire all the track on this level had been lifted and by the early 1970's the platforms were heavily overgrown and barely recognisable. Eventually some uses were found for the former goods station an unlicenced car breaker set up in business at the east end of the goods yard while the top of the ramp up from Shoreditch High Street was used as a car park. The lower level roadway west of Wheler Street was also adapted as an 'underground' car park.

In 1989 a proposal to extend the East London Line was developed by London Underground, to improve access between communities in inner London. There were two proposed extensions to the north and south of the East London Line. Phase 1 of the northern extension would join the current East London Line just south of the existing Shoreditch Station. It would then head up onto a new viaduct on the northern part of the former Bishopsgate Goods Station, cross Shoreditch High Street and head north to Dalston Junction using the disused Kingsland viaduct.

This would include new stations at Shoreditch High Street (to replace the existing Shoreditch station that will close), Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston Junction. The proposal included the demolition of Bishopsgate Goods Station to make way for the new viaduct. Following a public enquiry in 1994 the government granted the statutory planning powers in January 1997 to enable the construction of the northern extension to start.

Initially English Heritage took little interest in the goods station stating at the earlier Transport & Works Inquiry that "there was 'nothing of special architectural or historic interest' other than the gates and screen wall that were already listed (1996) at the time". There was an immediate public outcry that the demolition of the goods station would lead to the loss of the Braithwaite Viaduct which is one of the oldest railway structures in the world and the second oldest in London. It was designed by John Braithwaite (1797-1870), chief engineer of the Eastern Counties Railway, who with his partner Captain Jon Ericsson, raced George Stevenson's 'Rocket' for the Rainhill trials in 1829.

The viaduct was originally 2km in length but now only 260 metres of the original construction survives encapsulated within the structure of the Bishopsgate Goods Station.

The Braithwaite Viaduct

Despite the proposed demolition of the goods station, the remaining part of the lower rail level was redeveloped by Bishopsgate Space Management Ltd during 1999. The development aimed to retain as much of the original character as possible providing light manufacturing facilities, artist's studios, workshops, leisure facilities, a small swimming pool, fitness centre, office accommodation and restaurants. A Sunday market was also established under part of the brick viaduct. Within a short time applications for space from other small businesses were heavily oversubscribed. "The Goods Yard Market" first opened Sunday 19th September, 1999, coinciding with London Open House Day.

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