If it wasn’t for the railway, we wouldn’t be here at all...

June 1st, 1847 saw the opening of the station at Holmsley. It was considered an important stopping place on the new Southampton to Dorchester Railway, a line that was promoted by then local solicitor Charles Castleman and whose name affectionately graced the line, named Castleman’s Corkscrew, due to its winding route. The line was primarily built to serve the market towns of Ringwood and Wimborne. Bournemouth in the mid 1800’s was just a small village, so building a station there would have been fruitless.

Christchurch on the other hand with its hustle and bustle due in part to its port, was another matter and warranted a railway station. As a result, the station was built at the closest point to Christchurch, at Holmsley and bore the name ‘Christchurch Road’. Prince Edward, the eldest son of Queen Victoria, and Lillie Langtry were frequently met at Holmsley by an express carriage whereby they would be whisked away to Edward’s Bournemouth residence, built for his mistress.

In time and with the growth of Bournemouth, a new 10 mile stretch was opened in 1888, encompassing Sway, New Milton and Hinton Admiral, before joining the existing line from Christchurch to Bournemouth. Quieter times spark the imagination though, which must have been the case in the 1899 novel ‘The Wrong Box’ where Holmsley was cast as the fictional station ‘Browndean’, written by one time resident of Bournemouth, Robert Louis Stevenson. Also thought to use the station was Kaiser Wilheim of Germany and cabinet, for his 1907 visit to Highcliffe Castle to meet with Major Stuart Wortley.

The station’s finest hour came during WWII, when its location provided an invaluable drop off point of equipment and supplies for the newly created Aerodrome at Homsley South. This also created huge amounts of freight and passenger traffic. The station also played host to many Government officials during this period, including in May 1944 for the preparations for the D-Day landings, General Eisenhower. The 1950’s bought a return to the relative calm and serenity that had graced the station previously. Soldiers and pilots were replaced by ramblers and cyclists, who were increasingly using Holmsley as a convenient stop off to explore the forest.

Sadly, 1963 spelled the beginning of the end with the Beeching Report, detailing plans to cut more than 2200 stations from the network, Holmsley among them. It finally closed, sadly, on May 4th, 1964.