Station building given listed status by government

Brandon Railway Station has been given listed status following a recent campaign to save the building from demolition.

On Friday 28th August the building received a Grade II listing by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the recommendation of Historic England.

Listing marks and celebrates a building’s special architectural and historic interest, and also brings it under the consideration of the planning system, so that it can be protected for future generations.

Built between 1844 and 1845 to designs attributed to John Thomas, and extended in the 1870s and 1880s, the building has been listed at Grade II for the following reasons according to Historic England:

Architectural interest:

• For its attribution to John Thomas, a prolific architectural sculptor and architect, who has a number of listed sculptures, memorials, and buildings to his name, many of which are listed at high grades.
• For its quality craftsmanship and materials, which directly relate to the vernacular architectural traditions of the area and Brandon in particular, which is rich in the quarrying and workmanship of knapped flint.
• For the survival of the majority of the original plan form, which remains clearly legible despite minor alterations in the late C20.

Historic interest:

• The connection of the Norwich and Brandon Line and Eastern Counties Railway Line at Brandon in 1845 was a pivotal moment in regional railway and communications history, allowing Yarmouth and Norwich to be connected through to London by rail for the first time
• For the historic relationship Brandon Station holds with the other four principal stations of Norfolk’s Norwich to Brandon Line; Trowse, Wymondham, Attleborough, and Thetford

The news comes just a month after a decision to redevelop the car park at the station was overturned by the High Court.

Since Greater Anglia announced plans to demolish the station and increase the size of the car park, campaigners have fought to save the building.

SAVE Britain’s Heritage will now work with the Suffolk Building Preservation Trust on new plans for restoring the station and bringing it back to use.