A tour of Culham Station
Outside the Old Ticket Office
Graffiti
As a starter for our outside tour, here is evidence of idle hands from over 100 years ago. There are a number of names and dates that have been engraved into the stonework of the building, some with great care. See if you can spot them if you visit - but please don't add yours.
The earliest date that we have been able to find is the one shown on the left which looks to be 1878, but depending upon the light it can appear to be 1858.
Some other markings have been pointed out to us by a visiting professor from the University of Essex. These resemble the stylised letters VM and are close to the main entrance doorway. They are very feint and proved difficult to photograph, but you may be able to spot them if you look very carefully. He suggested that they are not graffiti as such, but were in his opinion witch marks, more specifically in our example marian marks.
Witches’ marks are ritual protection symbols and can be found in many historic places, from churches and houses, to barns, and caves. The marks were usually scribed onto stone or woodwork near a building’s entrance points, particularly doorways, windows and fireplaces, to protect inhabitants and visitors from witches and evil spirits. They date back to times when belief in witchcraft and the supernatural was widespread, from around the 16th to the early 19th century.
A common form of witch marking is overlapping V’s, known as marian marks, with the overlapping V’s believed to be the initials of the Virgin Mary. Witch marks continue to be used long after the fear of witchcraft and demons had died out, with the markings being thought of as symbols of not only protection but also of good luck. It may have become tradition to add such symbols to new buildings, and so our markings could well date back to 1844 when the ticket office was first opened.
Our own Postbox
Recessed into the wall next to the main Waiting Room door is a post box. It carries the cipher of King George VI who was King from December 1936 until his death in 1952. The box bears the makers name of W.T.Allen & Co London who were one of only two manufacturers at the time. This particular style of box was only made by them. Once, when a Postman opened the box for a collection we had a good look to see if there was a casting date or something similar inside. Although nothing could be found the date '1943' was marked on the back of the box in red paint, so it must date from then or earlier.
Wall inset post boxes were first introduced in 1857 so one would not have been present when the station first opened. It is not known when the first one was installed, but reference has been found in Kelly's Directory for Oxfordshire for 1883 to the 'wall letter box' at the station which was emptied at 7:20 p.m. during the week and 12:00 noon on Sundays. This had changed to 6:20 p.m. and 11:20 a.m. respectively by 1895, and weekday collections are still made from this box.
Preservation Trust Award
Attached to the wall above the Postbox is a cast metal plaque commemorating the award made in 2004 by the Oxford Preservation Trust following the refurbishment project by Network Rail.
Signs of wear and tear
The stonework of the Old Ticket Office bears the scars of the everyday wear and tear to which it was subjected during its long life as a station building. Many a parcels trolley must have been dragged round this corner over the years wearing the grooves ever deeper.
Fake bricks
One interesting feature of the outside of the building is that the joints between the bricks as built were disguised by being coloured and imitation mortar joints applied over the top. This very precise illusion of brickwork does not rigidly follow the actual mortar courses beneath and from a distance the visual trickery is not apparent. It has been suggested that it may well have been the result of outside influence as it represents an unnecessary expense. It would not be surprising if influence had been brought to bear as this quote from an article attributed to a foreman painter at Hampton Loade in 1947 suggests '... Finally, there were cases where idiosyncratic finishes were applied to certain stations to please the local landlords or land owners. Culham was finished in a single shade of light green for such reasons'.
False window
In the end wall of what used to be the Ladies’ Cloakroom is what looks like a window that has been filled in. In fact it never was an actual window as the original plans for the building clearly show this to be simply an ornamental feature. As with the fake bricks, this would have been another unnecessary expense when the ticket office was built and serves to reinforce the building’s status. Between 1696 and 1851 there was a tax on the number of windows in a property and to avoid or reduce this tax, buildings often had false or bricked up windows.
Overhead power supply
Looking at old photographs, it can be seen that at one time the various station buildings at Culham were connected to an electricity supply by means of overhead wires. Two brown porcelain insulators with some remnants of cable attached are still mounted in their metal bracket at the Oxford end of the Old Ticket Office, and we feel that they could have been part of the power supply to the Parcels Office which once stood on the platform a few feet away.
Remodelled Gents'
At some early time in its life, the outside Gents' facilities were remodelled. Inspection of the original contractor's drawings for the Ticket Office (to be seen under the 'Station through time' page under the 'IMAGES' menu tab) shows a proposed layout very different to that seen today. This drawing may not reflect the true 'as built' situation however. Evidence inside the covered w.c. (now the fuel store) shows that the wall was crudely hacked back at some time and rebuilt a foot or so further along. This new wall simply butts up against the outer wall of the Ticket Office and is not tied into the brick or stonework at all. It is felt that this alteration could have been made to accommodate a new wooden partition and roofed toilet.
GWR manhole cover
There are a number of manhole covers dotted around the station, several of them being relatively modern. If you look closely, just to the left of the ticket office you will find this relic from Great Western days. Judging from the typeface this one probably dates from the 1930s and is the only one we have found to be marked GWR. The lettering was moistened with some WD-40 to accentuate it for the photograph.
Support brackets
Each of the large canopy beams is supported by a cast iron bracket. Similar brackets can be seen on other old station buildings, their design varying between railway companies and even between buildings from the same company. These brackets are not shown on the original contractor's drawings from 1843 but could have been added when the building was erected, or certainly soon after completion.
Another feature of the canopy roof, and a source of some debate, is the dagger board valance on three sides, there being none on the forecourt side. The debate centres around whether the valance at Culham was an original feature when built, or a later addition. Historic England are of the firm opinion that it was original, but the Railway Heritage Trust think not. As with the cast iron support brackets, it is not shown on the drawing from 1843 and although we have no other early images of Culham we can refer to those of Pangbourne station. The 1846 Bourne engraving and a photograph taken in about 1890, both in our collection, clearly show that there was no valance around the canopy there. One does exist at Culham by 1904 however, as seen in our postcard of the station which was posted that year. Close examination of the roof beams at each end of the buiding reveals detailing hidden by the valance
, but which must originally have been intended to be seen as it is the same as that on the forecourt, non-valanced, side. The ends of the beams over the platform are treated very differently
, but again in a manner suggesting that they were designed to be seen without a valance. Based on the evidence we have therefore, we are inclined to agree that the valance was not an original feature, but it was certainly added within twenty years of opening.
