IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Snails Lane, DEVIZES, SN10 1DB

The south tower of the Victorian castle on an ancient site. A grade I listed building.

The tunnel was constructed in 1862 to take the railway line from Devizes on to Pewsey. The other end of the tunnel can now be seen at the eastern end of the Station Road car park. The railway line was closed in the Beeching cuts of 1966.

The line through Devizes closed in 1966. This is looking towards the south end of a 190 yard tunnel under Devizes Castle grounds. The line at the far end ran directly into Devizes station.

The southern end of the railway tunnel that passes underneath Devizes Castle is seen from the footbridge that carries a public footpath over the trackbed of the dismantled Devizes Branch. Devizes was first reached by a branch line from Holt junction on the Wessex main line in 1857. The line became a through line in 1862 when the GWR Reading to Hungerford line was extended to Devizes via Pewsey. It returned to being in branch line in 1900 when the Stert to Westbury link was built. The line and all of its stations closed in 1966. Some historic railway photographs are at http://devizesheritage.co.uk/DevizesRailway.html

The railway started its working life in 1857 when the railway first envisaged by the short-lived Wiltshire, Somerset and Weymouth Railway as far back as 1845 finally opened (by 1854 when construction started, the WS&WR had been absorbed into the Great Western Railway). At that time the line from Holt Junction, to the west on the still-extant main line from Chippenham and points east to Trowbridge and points west, to Devizes terminated in the town. However, five years on, in 1862, the line was extended to Patney and Chirton on the, again still open, main line between Newbury and Westbury so that the former branch line provided a through route. Topography necessitated the construction of a tunnel under Devizes Castle, the blocked-up east portal of which can be seen in this image. The railway had its ups and downs and was particularly busy in the second world war. Some troops from the retreat of Dunkirk passed through Devizes Station as did many enemy prisoners of war. Following the end of hostilities the line went into decline as road traffic grew and the last passenger train left Devizes on 16 April 1966. This section of trackbed seems to be in private hands although there is a public footpath carried by a bridge over the line which provided the viewpoint. The information above was found in 'Wiltshire Railway Stations' by Mike Oakley published by the Dovecote Press in 2004 ISBN 1 904349 33 1.

The railway line through Devizes closed in 1966. This is looking towards the north end of a 190 yard tunnel under Devizes Castle grounds. It is now used as a shooting range accessed from this end, the other end is blocked, see Image The tunnel is slightly curved, but apparently not enough to inconvenience its current use. This end is also of larger dimensions than the other end. Old maps show two tracks entering at this end and one leaving at the other end. It was built for the GWR broad gauge.

This fine sunset is seen from near Devizes Castle.

This magnificent valley view is seen from near Devizes Castle.

The castle seen here is an early (1838) Victorian construction. The earliest castle here was built in the 12th century. There is a goldmine of information on the history of Devizes Castle on the Devizes Heritage website http://www.devizesheritage.org.uk/castle.html

I was standing gazing at the beautiful interaction between the delicate wrought-iron gate posts with their carefully-worded messages, the mock-gothic Victorian castle and the restrained architecture of what could be a telephone exchange yet feeling that somehow something was missing, and that the photo was just a little too symmetrical to make the perfect image. At this point a white van man appeared, parked his Renault Trafic and disappeared behind me with a cheery 'good morning'. At this point I knew I had a sure-fire candidate for a 'Photo of the Day', a PoTY, or even, if I took care not to offend anyone, a 'stellar description'. If any of these predictions come to pass I will abstain from my daily McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese for at least a day.