Heath Park Halt, Hemel Hempstead

Heath Park Halt had been a railway station for decades. The railway station was opened for operations in 1905. It was situated on an embankment above the junction of Corner hall road and Station Road in Hemel Hempstead, England. It was also the only known terminus for passenger services on the Nicky Line which was a 14km branch line that ran from Harpenden into Hemel Hempstead’s town centre. Its services were however withdrawn in 1947 and the station ceased its operations. Its main reason for being built was so as to coincide with the coming of the railmoor service.

The station had a single small-sized platform that was built on wood only, with wooden steps right from the road and some wooden slatted fencing at the front of the platform. There had been no shelter when the station was initially built. After their construction, more and more passengers flocked the station and many residents of the surrounding areas that the railway line crossed, started using the train as their main means of transport.

The petition that saw the shelters being built on all three halts, was raised in 1907 and led to their installation in no time since the station also had an aim to bring more traffic to it. At the North-end of the halt, a short branch was installed too so as serve the goods depot and cotterels sidings that involved handling coal, and was still the distribution point of the so-called ‘London sweepings’. The London sweepings during those ancient times, mostly consisted animal droppings that farmers used as fertilizer.

The Heath Park being built at a time when the development of such infrastructure was still not on its peak, served the residents of Hemel Hempstead in various advantageous ways like providing them with a means of transport for their goods, it also made the interaction of people from different regions possible thus influencing cultural exchange and trade at the same time. It is an iconic place to visit in the UK and although the park was closed and demolished decades ago, the position that it stood in is still visible to date and anyone willing to learn of its history is welcome to visit the area and do so.