Speech House Road
Named after the nearby Speech House, Speech House Road began as
a simple halt in 1875, but by 1878, the facilities had been expanded. The
facilities would continue to expand over the next couple of decades as more and
more freight was shipped from this station, especially from Cannop Colliery and
the Wood Distillation works.
However, Speech House was in a remote area
of the forest and thus it was not surprising that passenger traffic from the
station was sparse. Upon withdrawal of the passenger services in 1929, most of
the buildings were converted to goods use. The station was used to unload
ammunition during the Second World War.
The closure of Cannop Colliery in 1960 removed most of Speech
House Road's traffic, and although there was traffic from the wood distillation
plant and a few other small concerns, the section of line between Speech House
Road and Coleford Junction was closed in 1963. Today the area around the station
is a picnic area for tourists and the trackbed is now a cycleway. The state of the trackbed north of Parkend would
make an extension to Speech House Road difficult and extremely costly for the Dean Forest Railway, although
this would now appear to be a serious goal for them.
Image Not Available
The site of Speech House Road Station, looking north on the 23rd October, 2011