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St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road)
St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road) station in 1916
St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road)Location of St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road) in Greater London
Location	Whitechapel
Local authority	London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Owner	Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Joint Railway
Number of platforms	2
Key dates
1884	Opened
1938	Closed
Replaced by	Aldgate East
Other information
Coordinates	51°31′04″N 0°03′52.5″W / 51.51778°N 0.064583°W / 51.51778; -0.064583
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St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road) was a station on the District and Metropolitan lines of the London Underground. It was located between Whitechapel and Aldgate East stations, in the East End of London.

It was opened in 1884 on the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Joint Railway, and served initially, albeit briefly, by the South Eastern Railway, then and for much of its existence jointly by the Metropolitan Railway and the District Railway; the route is now served by the District and Hammersmith & City lines. The station was closed in 1938 in advance of the relocation of Aldgate East to within minimal distance, rendering St. Mary's inessential. The station building was severely damaged during the Blitz of the Second World War and subsequently was demolished.

History

Opened on 3 March 1884 as St. Mary's (Whitechapel), the station was on the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Joint Railway, and initially used by the South Eastern Railway; this service was withdrawn on 1 October 1884 and one week later the services were taken over jointly by the Metropolitan Railway and the District Railway. The station was small and cramped, and was located very close to both Whitechapel and Aldgate East stations, just before the junction to the East London Line.

In 1938, Aldgate East was relocated further eastwards and given a new entrance only a few hundred yards from St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road) rendering the latter surplus to requirements. It was permanently closed after the last train on 30 April 1938 in advance of the resiting of Aldgate East.

During the Second World War, the station site was leased from London Transport by the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney for use as an air-raid shelter. The edges of the platforms were bricked up to separate the shelter areas from the still-used tracks. On 22 October 1940, during the early months of the Blitz, the street-level station building was hit by a bomb and severely damaged. Its temporary replacement was also hit a few months later. The structure was subsequently demolished, hence little evidence of the station's existence now remains above ground, and its site is occupied by a car dealership.

The bricked-up platforms are still accessible to London Underground staff via an anonymous door off Whitechapel Road. Below ground, it is still possible to make out where the station was, as the barrel-vaulted roof and bricked-off platforms are still just visible from passing trains. Sometimes, trains travelling from Whitechapel to Aldgate East are held at signals, resulting in the train stopping abreast of the old St. Mary's platform.

St. Mary's Curve

The connection line leading to the old East London Line is still called the St. Mary's Curve. For many years the line was only used to transfer rolling stock between the East London and Metropolitan lines. Loading gauge restrictions for the stock meant that, although the curve was double tracked, trains could only pass in one direction at any one time. When illuminated, it can easily be seen from the left-hand side of East London Line trains entering Whitechapel from the south and can still be seen from the right-hand side of District line trains entering the station from the west. Since re-opening as part of the London Overground in 2010, the former East London Line no longer shares rolling stock with the Metropolitan line. As a result, St. Mary's Curve is no longer used, but the tunnel still exists. The points at St. Mary's Curve were removed in 2009.

References

1. Historic England. "Monument No. 1378579". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 5 October 2015.
2. ^ Rose, Douglas (December 2007) . The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History (8th ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-315-0.
3. London Underground Video on Metropolitan line and East London Line.

External links

• Abandoned Stations - St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road)
• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Bomb damage at St. Mary's, 22 April 1941
• BBC News - Rare tour inside an abandoned tube station

Former services
Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Aldgate Easttowards Wimbledon, Richmond or Ealing Broadway		District line(1884-1905)		Shadwelltowards New Cross Gate
		District line(1884-1938)		Whitechapeltowards Upminster
Aldgate Easttowards Hammersmith		Metropolitan line(1884-1906) (1913-38)		Shadwelltowards New Cross or New Cross Gate
Aldgate Easttowards Verney Junction		Metropolitan line(1906-13)		WhitechapelTerminus

v t e London Underground closed stations, former stations and abandoned plans
Closed stations	Central Blake Hall British Museum North Weald Ongar Wood Lane District Hounslow Town Mark Lane Osterley & Spring Grove Park Royal & Twyford Abbey St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road) Tower of London East London Shoreditch Jubilee Charing Cross Metropolitan Brill Granborough Road Hammersmith (Grove Road) Lord's Marlborough Road Quainton Road St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road) Swiss Cottage Uxbridge Road Verney Junction Waddesdon Waddesdon Road Westcott Winslow Road Wood Lane Wood Siding Wotton Northern City Road South Kentish Town King William Street Piccadilly Aldwych (pictured) Brompton Road Down Street Osterley & Spring Grove York Road
Open stations no longer served by London Underground	Bakerloo Bushey Carpenders Park Hatch End Headstone Lane Watford High Street Watford Junction District Castle Hill (Ealing Dean) Hanwell Hayes Langley Leigh-on-Sea Shoeburyness Slough Southend Central Southall West Drayton Windsor South Acton East London New Cross New Cross Gate Rotherhithe Shadwell Surrey Quays Wapping Metropolitan Aylesbury Great Missenden Stoke Mandeville Wendover Northern Drayton Park Essex Road
Abandoned plans	Bakerloo Extension to Camberwell Central Denham Emlyn Road Harefield Road Heathfield Terrace Paddenswick Road Rylett Road The Grove District Cannon Hill Cheam Collingwood Road Elm Farm Elm Grove Merton Park Morden Sutton Sutton Common Jubilee Aldwych Ludgate Circus Cannon Street Fenchurch Street Surrey Docks New Cross Gate New Cross Lewisham St Katharine Docks Wapping Surrey Docks North Millwall North Greenwich Custom House Silvertown Woolwich Arsenal Beckton Metropolitan Cassiobridge Clerkenwell Finchley Road Hampstead Watford Central Watford High Street Watford Junction Watford Vicarage Road Northern Alexandra Palace Brockley Hill Bushey Heath Cranley Gardens Crouch End Elstree South Highgate Mill Hill (The Hale) Muswell Hill North End Stroud Green Piccadilly Aldwych branch extension to Waterloo Victoria Walthamstow Wood Street Great Northern & City Lothbury Great Northern & Strand Harringay Hornsey Wood Green Other Charing Cross & Waterloo Electric Railway City & Brixton Railway London Central Railway Edgware Road Tube schemes Waterloo & Whitehall Railway
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• District line stations
• Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
• Hammersmith & City line stations
• Disused London Underground stations
• Former Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Joint Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1884
• Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1938
• Buildings and structures in Whitechapel
• 1884 establishments in England
• 1938 disestablishments in England
• Railway stations located underground in the United Kingdom