The Norton Public House

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Site of the Railway Hotel/Public House, which became the Barnside Tavern, and then the Norton Barge and finally the Norton.

The astute among you will note that there is no railway line or station anywhere near Cold Norton, and that to saddle a hotel/pub with such an anomalous choice would be quixotic in the extreme. An explanation is therefore needed.

Back in 1889 the Great Eastern Railway, which back then was the master and overlord of over 1,200 mile of track in East Anglia, built a railway line that ran from South Woodham Ferrers to Maldon (and with a change of signals, further still, to Witham). The stops from SWF alighted at Stow Maries, Cold Norton, Barons Lane, Maldon West and finally Maldon (Central) Station.

The stations at Stow Maries and Barons Lane, whilst being useful stops for passengers with rudimentary platforms and small huts, were specifically used for the on and off-loading of coal and cargoes (Barons Lane had a Coal and Goods yard in close attendance). Cold Norton, on the other hand, had a station comparable to Burnham-on-Crouch, and in keeping with this status, had its own Hotel to accommodate travellers curious enough to seek out the lesser-known reaches of the Dengie peninsula.

Sadly after the Second World War it was decided not to resume passenger service and instead to concentrate solely on the trafficking of cargo goods. This was due in part to overuse, poor maintenance and the arrival of a new bus service in the area. Sadder still, in 1953 a decision was made to discontinue the line with the tracks taken up and all related buildings demolished or, in the case of the Railway Hotel, rehabilitated into a public house! Although sadder even further still, currently closed!

If you follow the line of the Stow Road you will notice adjacent to it the ghost of a trail, these days marked by trees and brambles, which you can quite clearly see descends into SWF. All that remains of the line now is the impression of a pathway, given credence by dilapidated bridge arches here and there, and the occasional lump of coal long since superfluous to its intended use.