At the end of approach road off A635 Manchester Road, Greenfield. This was formerly Station Road but is now a private drive.

Passengers: London & North Western Railway
Goods: British Railways (London Midland Region)

Passenger station SD994042
Goods station SD988039

Notes: When Friezland passenger station opened, the established Oak View woollen mill stood opposite the approach road; some recently built short terraces, forming the hamlet of Friezland, were within a few minutes’ walk. Some larger villas and farmsteads were also in the vicinity of the station. Greenfield station, on the original Huddersfield-Manchester railway was about half a mile to the north-west on the opposite side of the River Tame valley. Friezland passenger station was on the narrow area of near- level ground between two viaducts. Immediately north-east was Greenfield Viaduct (confusingly identified as ‘Friezland Viaduct’ on OS plans), 242yd in length and with 16 arches one of which was a larger span over the brook.  Friezland Viaduct was immediately south-west of the station, with 12 arches and stretching 187yd. As with the other viaducts on the line they were constructed of blue engineering brick. The constricted site close to the mill and terraces could accommodate only the passenger station, so the goods station was ¼-mile south-west beyond Friezland Viaduct where a level site could be created by hollowing-out the valley side to the south-east and embanking it to the north-west; just south-west of this site the railway disappeared into the Royal George Tunnel under a narrow spur of higher ground. Had the passenger station been built on the goods station site it would have been poorly sited to serve the local population. All four stations on the Micklehurst Loop shared this distinct separation between passenger and goods operations for similar geographical reasons; but there was probably no real benefit in combining the two functions on one site.

The passenger station was reached by an unmetalled track known as Station Road. There were two flanking platforms connected by a footbridge. Whereas at Uppermill, Micklehurst and Staley & Millbrook the station house and offices were at road level and the platforms and waiting rooms were elevated on embankments, at Friezland the platforms and all buildings were on the same level.  Micklehurst, Uppermill and Staley & Millbrook stations had timber platforms to reduce the weight that the embankments supported, and although only part of Friezland was on a low embankment the platforms here were also of timber. The main station building and goods warehouse were of brick construction. A photograph taken by John Mann in 1970, identified as Friezland – but with a question mark – shows a single, curving brick-built platform beside an empty trackbed.

Friezland station house and office range were on the up (south-east) platform and a waiting shelter stood on the down platform, displaced north-east of, rather than facing, the main building. Awnings were provided on both platforms. The design of the station house was similar to that of the other three on the Micklehurst Loop. It was constructed of brick, probably red with string courses of blue engineering brick and pale stone lintels. The dignified two-storey structure was almost square in plan, and single-storey office / waiting room ranges extended on both sides. The roof of the station house was hipped and slated and the office range probably had similar roofing, with restrained cresting and finials. A cornice was provided using a row of bricks set at 45⁰ as dentils. The original chimneystacks were probably of blue brick. The entrance from the road to the house was centrally placed, probably sheltered by a small sloping porch, with pairs of tall rectangular windows either side. Apart from the opening above the doorway, other windows were also in pairs.

The doubt surrounding the detail of the building, such as the colour of the bricks and style of roofing of the single-storey sections, is because no photographs have come to light showing the station building clearly. The building is today a private residence, but it has been altered in several respects. The original sash windows have been replaced, most of them with upvc frames, and the paired windows either side of the central doorway on the south-east elevation have been knocked into one; multi-light windows have been installed which, though attractive, are somewhat unconventional in such a building. The bricks have also been painted in an eau-de-Nile colour. It is suspected that the ridged single-storey roofs are also not original. On the platform elevation a conservatory has been added. The garden on the station approach is immaculate. On the down platform side woodland has been allowed to colonise the site right up to the former trackbed.

Below is the timetable for Friezland just over a year after the station opened:

§ Timetable suggests that Micklehurst Loop train couples with train via Mossley at Stalybridge
In winter 1895-96 the frequency of trains had not been altered, but they were re-timed and destinations had changed:

As the timetables for 1887 and 1895 (above) show, Friezland – together with the other three stations on the Loop- did not enjoy a generous service; there were no trains on Sunday. The purpose of the Micklehurst Loop was primarily to relieve pressure on the original line through Greenfield and Mossley, rather than provide extra passenger stations, and it is clear that the four new stations and the few stopping trains were not remunerative.

Micklehurst closed to passengers in 1907, followed by Staley & Millbrook in 1909, but Friezland and Uppermill remained open for several years more. The April 1910 timetable, above, shows a reduced service in comparison to 1895, particularly in the down direction; no trains called on Sunday. On 1 January 1917 these two remaining stations – along with a number of Britain’s quieter stations – were closed to release staff for military service in the ‘Great War’. Some of these stations re-opened after the war was over, but Friezland and Uppermill did not. Passenger trains continued to use the Micklehurst Loop, but no record has been seen of calls being made after 1917 at any of the intermediate stations, even for excursions. After the station closed to passengers its footbridge was dismantled and a concrete footbridge was built prior to 1932 to enable pedestrians to cross the line which still carried freight and occasional passenger trains.

The goods station at Friezland remained in use for several decades after the passenger station closed. It comprised a large two-road warehouse (of similar design to the others on the Loop,) 5-ton crane, weigh office and stone-setted yard. Road vehicles reached the yard along a lengthy, unmetalled lane. There was no signal cabin at the passenger station, but one stood on the down side of the through lines at the goods station.

In January 1923 the Micklehurst Loop’s ownership was transferred from the LNWR to the new London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). Early in the LMS era Mossley Gas Works became an important user of the Micklehurst Loop. Located a short distance south of the Royal George Tunnel, about ½-mile south-west of Friezland goods station the gas works was built between 1926 and 1931, on the down side of the line. Sidings were installed to serve the works, with connections to the Micklehurst Loop in both directions; access was controlled by Friezland Gas Sidings signal box on the up side of the through lines.

From January 1948 the Loop passed to British Railways (London Midland Region) administration, and it was in this administration that Friezland goods station closed, on 27 February 1965. Friezland Gas Sidings signal box had already closed, on 14 March 1962. The date of closure of the gas works has not been found.  The line through Friezland closed entirely on 3 October 1966 and the rails were removed by 1970. The concrete footbridge remained in place after track-lifting although it was clearly no longer needed. The details of the removal of the Friezland Viaduct, south-west of the station have not been found, but the 16-arch Greenfield Viaduct, north-east of the station, received attention from the Oldham Chronicle when its demolition took place in June 1975. In the words of a long-standing Saddleworth resident (reported by Wells) ‘Greenfield was better off without it’.

Unlike its neighbours at Micklehurst and Staley & Millbrook, the goods warehouse at Friezland has been demolished. Its site is now in the landscaped grounds of Oldham & District Riding Club’s Friezland Arena. As noted above, the passenger station building is in residential use, approached by a drive which was formerly Station Road.

CLICK HERE FOR A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HUDDERSFIELD & MANCHESTER RAILWAY AND THE MICKLEHURST LOOP

Ticket Michael Stewart. Bradshaw from Nick Catford. Route map drawn by Alan Young

Other web sites: The Micklehurst Loop - Numerous archive pictures along the loop.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Bairstow, Martin   The Leeds, Huddersfield & Manchester Railway: the Standedge Line (Author, 1990)
• Holt, Geoffrey O  A regional history of the railways of Great Britain: Vol 10 The North West  (2nd Edition, revised by Gordon Biddle) (David & Charles, 1986)
• Hurst, Geoffrey Register of closed railways 1948-91 (Milepost, 1992)
• Joy, David  A regional history of the railways of Great Britain: Vol 8 South and West Yorkshire (2nd Edition) (David & Charles 1984) 
• Quick, Michael   Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (RCTS 2009)
• Clinker, C R   Clinker’s register of closed passenger stations and goods depots  (Avon Anglia 1978)
• Wells, Jeffrey  Miles Platting to Diggle (via Ashton)  (Challenger, 1996)
• Fox, Peter Old Saddleworth (Author, 1982)
  

To see stations on the Micklehurst Loop Line
click on the statation name:
Uppermill, Micklehurst & Staley & Millbrook
See also Diggle