These included the Three Counties Lunatic Asylum, which was finally subsequently known as the Fairfield Hospital.

The station was north of Hitchin on the "London-Peterborough" line.

The station was opened by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) on 1 April 1866, originally being named Arlesey Siding.

[3][4] The GNR became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923.

The station then passed on to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.