One of our members asked about the temporary camps set up to house the navvies working on the railway in the Sevenoaks area.
The answer to the query is given in 'Sevenoaks, an historical Dictionary' compiled by David Killingray and Elizabeth Purves and published in 2012 by Phillimore & Co Ltd for Sevenoaks Historical Society.
The
railway lines were built:-
Line
through Dunton Green to Tubbs Hill 1868.
Line
through Otford to Bat and Ball 1862 and was extended to Tubs Hill in 1869.
The
Polhill tunnel is 1 mile 850 yards long was built through chalk under the north
downs. The workers camp was at Bogs Island, Dunton Green.
The
Sevenoaks tunnel 1 mile 1691 yards long runs under the Kippington estate
through the greensand ridge. More difficult to cut it was built in 1863. The
workers were housed in huts at White Hart Wood. The line was fully opened in
1869.
The family for whom the query arose was living in the Vines area in c1865, is just north of Sevenoaks at the Junction of Dartford Road and Seal Hollow. See modern map, it has ‘The Vines’ cricket ground and just north of it Vines Lodge.
