Denbigh Hall railway station

Denbigh Hall railway station was a temporary terminus station on the London and Birmingham Railway in the Denbigh area of what is now Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England. It was situated about 1 mi north of Bletchley railway station, near a point where the railway crossed Watling Street. It was open for less than six months, between April and September 1838.

History
The route of the London and Birmingham Railway was designed and engineered by Robert Stephenson. Two of the major civil engineering projects on the line were the six-span, 18 m high Wolverton viaduct over the river Great Ouse, and the 1 mi long Kilsby Tunnel near Rugby. Work on this tunnel was prolonged, due to the builders unexpectedly encountering quicksand, and the route was not ready for the scheduled opening of the railway on 9 April 1838. As a temporary measure, Denbigh Hall station was built near the point where the line crossed Watling Street, allowing passengers to transfer to stage-coaches to continue their journey to Rugby station, also near Watling Street, a distance of approximately 37 mi. Denbigh Hall station was named after a nearby inn on Watling Street, dating from 1710. The bridge over Watling Street still survives, but has been extended as the railway has widened.

The station closed with the opening of Kilsby Tunnel on 17 September 1838, though the line still exists, forming part of the West Coast Main Line from London to Glasgow. The chord with the (much later) line from Oxford (via the Bletchley Flyover) joins the main line nearby and bears the name "Denbigh Hall Junction".

Due to the temporary nature of the station, no images of it or records of its layout are known to exist, but a contemporary engraving by George Dodgson Callow and William Radclyffe shows a train on the bridge in its immediate vicinity.

Commemoration
In 1920, Herbert Leon, 1st baronet of the nearby Bletchley Park, commissioned a plaque on the bridge to commemorate the station. The plaque reads:

"Prior to September 1838 the southern part of this railway terminated at this bridge whence passengers were conveyed by coach to Rugby where they rejoined the railway for Birmingham. Inscribed by Sir Herbert Leon Bart and Lady Leon of Bletchley Park Bucks. By permission of the L&NW Railway Company August 1920."