Audley End Halt (EHER 40454)

Mid 19th century halt on the Saffron Walden Branch Line Halt. The original branch line waiting room/station office and a length of platform still survive to the south-east of the main station building (Audley End) and at the western extreme of the former branch line.

The original branch line waiting room/station office and a length of platform still survive to the south-east of the main station building (Audley End) and at the western extreme of the former branch line. The waiting room/station office is a small unimposing building lacking the grandeur of the main station. It is built using a similar yellow stock brick in Flemish bond and uses blue bull-nosed bricks to dress and protect the lower courses on each angle. Covered in Welsh slate and with gable ends, north and south, the halt is a symmetrical building with a central open canopied seating area with bench seating and a single office/waiting room to either side. Truncated stacks show that both rooms were once heated, although whether the fireplaces are still intact is unclear (no access). All the windows retain their original vertical sash windows and have coade (fake) stone heads with deep skewbacks and stone sills. The platform extends for c.60m to the east of the halt and is brick built with stone oversailing edge copings. Ramped at both ends, the platform also tapers gradually to compensate for the disparity in ground levels as the branch line rises out of the Cam valley up to the level of the main line. Current use: The building remains in use, in a secondary role as a bike shelter and a general store. The roofs are weathertight and the structure generally well maintained. <1>