New interpretation panel to celebrate the fascinating history of Fallodon Station and the Grey family in Northumberland

The Grey family, of Fallodon Hall, owned land between Alnmouth and Chathill which in the 1840s was due to be crossed by the new railway from Newcastle to Berwick.

An agreement was reached between Sir George Grey and the railway company who had their Newcastle architect Benjamin Green design and build a diminutive country station in what at the time was called “Jacobethan” style; it cost £696.

Grey and his heirs were allowed to stop any train when they wished to travel from, or to, their station, though it seems that this was only done occasionally.

Moving forward 50 years, Grey’s grandson Sir Edward Grey had inherited Fallodon and became a director of the North Eastern Railway. He was the Liberal MP for Berwick; he took a great interest in his railway work and was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1904.

During Grey’s time as a director the North Eastern took a very progressive attitude to union representation (being the first railway company to permit a union representative to attend negotiations) and to the use of arbitration in settling disputes. Grey’s political views undoubtedly played a role here.

Events were to take a dramatic turn barely two years later, when Grey was appointed Foreign Secretary in the new Liberal government. Feeling that this was not compatible with his railway work, Grey resigned as a director in late 1905.

Soon afterwards tragedy struck when Lady Dorothy Grey died after an accident when driving her horse and trap not far from Fallodon.

Sir Edward became the country’s longest-serving Foreign Secretary and is still remembered for his remark that “the lamps are going out all over Europe...” when despite his efforts the First World War broke out in 1914.

After leaving government office in 1916, Grey was elevated to the Peerage and resumed his directorship of the North Eastern Railway the following year.

In 1923 the railway became part of the larger London & North Eastern Railway and Viscount Grey, as he had become, remained a director until his death in 1933.

When he died the railway staff at Fallodon decided to plant a tree in his memory, a remarkable and indeed unusual gesture of respect and affection for someone at the top of the railway hierarchy, and something Grey would surely have approved of, given his love of the natural world.

However the days of the little private station were numbered and the LNER bought out the right to stop trains from the new owners. The station closed and sadly it was demolished in the 1960s.

When it was discovered that the memorial tree was still standing, the North Eastern Railway Association put forward a proposal for an interpretation board at the station site. This was enthusiastically supported by the Bridgeman Family (the current owners of Fallodon Hall) and Adrian Graves, Viscount Grey’s closest surviving relative. Network Rail have kindly given permission for the board to be erected on their land.

The board is being dedicated at a special ceremony at Fallodon station on Tuesday, April 25, this being Viscount Grey’s birthday.