As part of this year’s National Open Heritage initiative, on Sunday 14th September, visitors can enjoy The Pulborough Heritage Trails – revealing Pulborough’s past and some of its iconic buildings of the last 800 years
The “Rolling Back the Years Trail” starts you from the old bridge across the River Arun with its history and then shares the commercial history of past and present history of this area known as Swan Corner which was in practice the “Service Station” of horse-drawn transport with food and drink, accommodation, a blacksmith, a saddler and stables. The trail moves on to visit the Masonic Hall and areas of former commercial and manufacturing alongside the river to the 1850’s railway station , with an opportunity to visit the recently restored signal box and watch a 12 minute slideshow on the history of the railway in Pulborough
For this day only, The Visitor Centre will have on display, a five-metre-long model of the Railway Station and Shunting Yard as in 1910. This amazing model accurately shows the large complex of the railway at that time, by then extended to the coast and a branch line to Midhurst and a large shunting yard to export local produce to London, heavy goods to Pulborough. By this time the railway and station had made the Wey and Arun Canal redundant and Pulborough became a destination for Londoners and other visitors. There is an on-hand guide who will show you the functions of all the buildings on the model.
If travelling by train, why not spend the journey listening to Southeast Communities Rail Partnership podcast: The Arun Valley Line, – Beyond the Rails?
