[email protected] wrote: > > The railways were happy to adjust geography as well as spelling for > their convenience. Researching transport arrangements for a spot of > weekending along the K&A revealed that the station just handy for > Woolhampton Lock is called Midgham, although it's well over a mile > from Midgham village [and lock]. It seems that the GWR didn't want a > station name that sounded so similar to 'Wolverhampton'.
I'd always wondered why that was. I've heard that another trick the GWR were fond of was using the suffix 'Road' to indicate that a station was miles away from the place it purported to serve. A bit like we use 'Parkway' today. Or the Ryanair approach... Wherever > that is. Wolverhampton? On the Grand Union somewhere just north of Milton Keynes, isn't it? Another station I'm very familiar with (my old office was right next to it) is Audley End, which is in the village of Wendens Ambo near Saffron Waldon. But apparently the squire at Audley End House a mile away had enough clout to get the railway to name their station after his gaff rather than after the village! I've also heard it claimed that he had enough influence to not only require the railway to divert their route adding a couple of unnecessary tunnels, but sadly to put the kybosh on one of the London to Cambridge canal schemes. However given that it succeeded in getting its Act of Parliament, I'm not convinced. Martin
