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Cultural and architectural historian Dr Steven Parissien explores the changing role and history of England’s railway stations. Parissien uses English Heritage’s image archive to look at stations ranging from the house in Stockton where you could buy tickets for the first passenger service in 1825 to today’s modern stations where the need for sustainable travel and an appreciation of inspired renovation projects have led to a renaissance in the railway station epitomised by the redeveloped St Pancras. Parissien looks at how early stations segregated first and second-class passengers, how the first stations were built as plainly as possible to alleviate fear of this new technology and how stations evolved into a recognisable building type.

Parissien is director of Compton Verney gallery in Warwickshire and has written widely on architectural and cultural history including The Life of the Automobile: A New History of the Motor Car. He also appears later the same day to talk on Oxford buildings and patronage.

Presented by English Heritage,