now depending on what classification you use wells is the smallest city in the united kingdom now the
perfectionist in you might suggest that it's st david's 2011 had a recorded population of just
1900 but i'm not using population as a metric here now i did say smallest so let's have a look at
square miles now if we remove the square mile that is the city of london well mainly because it fits
the video title and also saying the smallest city in the uk is london sounds a bit weird
well then we're here in somerset more specifically we're in wells in somerset
population 10 536 in 2011 with a land mass of just 2.11 square miles for the record and comparison's
sake said david's community has 17.88 square miles anyway 2.11 square miles so we're going to try and
squeeze in four abandoned stations so let's pop wells up on a map and try and tackle this head-on
now the first railway in this area was gwr london to bristol route the famous
route across the country first that quickly got everyone's attention including the good folks
back at shepton mallet and wells so come 1850 when the line from chippenham to froome was built the
inhabitants of shepton mallet thought their branch connecting them to the network would be quite easy
1855 and the east somerset railway company was born they surveyed the
line within around about a year and ismbard kingdom brunel himself decided
that the perfect spot for a junction would back it with him so an act of
parliament was passed at 1858 they had their connection to shepparton mallet
back over in the city of wells well the residents weren't too fussed about the east somerset railway
because just to their south the somerset central railway had connected hybrid and glastonbury
the soon-to-be somerset dorset a branch to them was only just around the corner or was it
the somerset line folk well they were dragging their hills so the people of wells were becoming
impatient they approached the east somerset railway back at shepton man and said could
you extend your branch to us well they said yes of course we can just give us twelve and
a half thousand pounds and we'll build it for you the people of wells did just that
in the meantime the somerset central railway got their act together and in 1859 wells had its first
rail connection wells later wells priory road was now open the broad gauge line ran by the
bristol and exeter railway company so now we have a rail connection but wells has already committed
their 12 and a half thousand pounds to the east somerset railway so by 1862 they now have two
fully functional stations so 2.11 square miles a tiny population two stations now
that'll surely do won't it well you'd think so but then the bristol and extra railway and the
now fully fledged somerset and dorset railway they propose a route from here all the way up
to yattan ultimately the bristol and extra railway won that fight and that was great for them because
it meant that they could in join up their east somerset railway to the east of wells and have
a complete through line easy right well no there's another issue the board of trade have stepped in
colonel yolland it's got to be colonel yolland doesn't it we love colonel yolland
and they suggest that well the proposed alignment goes right across the somerset and dorset station
of wells priory road so the board of trade insist upon you've guessed it opened 5th of april 1870
wells tucker road was the third station on the third railway in the smallest city in the uk
so what became of all the stations in wells why is there nothing left today well as soon as the gwr
through line of the strawberry line the cheddar valley line was made the east somerset railway
well station was pretty much made redundant perhaps i think it was bought by a cheese factory
which later burnt down toasted cheese 60 years on and wells priory road was next for the chop
the somerset and dorset branch was closed then and of course that only left one station in wells
wells tucker street now that was still in use on the gwr strawberry line the cheddar line
now wells changed its name once again to wells from wells tucker street pretty much the day
that wells priory road closed there are pretty much no remains of any of the stations left
in the city today save for the good shed of wells tucker street now that in itself
the station outlasted the others by another 12 years
now i did say four abandoned stations well as we arrive just up ahead at
wookey that falls just outside the 2.11 square miles of wells but four stations
sounds a bit better than free so i'm sure you'll allow me that little bit of poetic license
you