The station was opened by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) on 1 November 1885 as Abbotts Ripton.

[1] The GNR became part of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) during the Grouping on 1 January 1923.

[1] Despite the name change in 1938, the signal box nameboards and the lamp casings continued to display the former name throughout the station’s existence An accident occurred at the future site of the station on 21 January 1876, when the southbound Flying Scotsman express train from Edinburgh to London was involved in a double collision during a blizzard.

Heavy snow had frozen around the semaphore signal arms, causing them to stick in the "clear" position, as a result of which the driver of the express was not warned of the presence of a coal train which was backing from the main line into a siding.

A collision occurred, and not long after, a northbound express from London to Leeds ran into the wreckage.