New S&DR mural at one of world's first stations
A new mural was unveiled on 27 April 2024 in Middleton St George, County Durham, celebrating the Fighting Cocks train station on the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR). The station served passengers from 1830 to 1887 and remained in railway ownership until around 1964.
The charity Friends of S&DR successfully received a S&DR 26 Miles Community Grant, made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to commission local artist Durham Spray Paints to mark this historically significant site.
The mural is on a building next to the original station house, located on the S&DR Discovery Trail which follows the route of the original 26-miles of the S&DR. The mural depicts an 1875 print which shows a train hauled by locomotive 'Edward Pease' entering the station.
The history of the Fighting Cocks station
In 1825 the S&DR opened and passed through a small agricultural hamlet called Fighting Cocks. A coal depot was set up alongside the train line in the area to keep the trains fuelled. By 1830 that coal depot was expanded to become the Middelton and Dinsdale passenger station, which was later named the Fighting Cocks station. By 1879 there were nine passenger trains in each direction stopping at the Fighting Cocks daily. The station had a coal drops, a goods station, signal box, and sidings.
The North Eastern Railway (NER), which took over S&DR in 1863, opened a Darlington & Saltburn Branch line in 1887, taking most traffic away from Fighting Cocks. In the twentieth century freight traffic through the station was bolstered by local industry but by the 1980s the tracks had been lifted, buildings demolished, and level crossing disappeared.
In 2016 Historic Environment Audit identified Fighting Cocks as a location of significant heritage value with several assets and remains still to be found.
The future of Fighting Cocks
In early 2020 the Middelton St George Parish Council and the Friends of S&DR responded to local interest by establishing the Middleton St George S&DR Heritage Steering Group, which is now the S&DR Bicentenary Group. One of their principal aims is to create a Fighting Cocks Heritage Hub.
The S&DR 26 Miles Community Grant
Thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund the S&DR Community Grant Scheme funds projects led by communities local to the 26-mile S&DR route between Shildon and Stockton. Projects must celebrate the unique heritage of the area and applications are welcome from all types of groups including community centres, parish councils, town councils and local businesses. Funding starts at £250 and can go up to £10,000 with up to £30,000 available for capital works projects.
The Friends of S&DR
The Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway is a registered charity that works to conserve the structures, artefacts, and archives of the 1825 Stockton & Darlington Railway.
Their purpose is to use the region's heritage of innovation to inspire the future, creating economic regeneration and employment, improving our urban and rural environment, raising educational standards and inspiring community pride and cohesion.
While their work is of interest nationally and internationally, it is support for communities, schools and business in County Durham, Darlington and Stockton that is of the highest priority.
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