STATION ROAD
Station Road takes it name from the station, opened in 1852. Prior to that it was
called Packwood Road, as it led across the common to Packwood.
There was very little early building in Station Road. Near the High Street corner
is Bonhams, which occupies a 16th century former farmhouse, whose outbuildings extended
to the corner before three redevelopments between 1910 and 1968. The Rookery, on
the corner of St. John’s Close comprises 17th cottages now owned by Knowle United
Charities. Other buildings between the corner and Lodge Road are mostly late 19th
century cottages, of which those next to St. John’s Close retain their original frontages.
On the opposite side the parade of shops on the Warwick Road corner dates from 1932.
The present garage was built as a cinema in about 1924 and was a sensation, bringing
people flocking in from miles away. It was converted to a garage by the Johnson
family in 1955 (no relation to Johnsons Cars). Next is a row of shops built in 1903,
one of which was the headquarters of an American army medical unit billeted in Knowle
in 1944. Beyond is the United Reformed Church, which replaced a former chapel in
High Street in 1932. Since the 1930s land in Station Road has been sold in small
plots and developed piecemeal. Modern buildings include a row of houses built on
Jubilee Field, where Knowle celebrations were held until 1953 and, further along,
Arden Academy opened in 1958.
Looking towards High Street, with 19th century cottages on the left, Jubilee Field
on the right, and the United Reformed Church beyond.
