A very Brief History of the East Kent Railway

 History of East Kent Railway Trust, from two marvellous books 1

The East Kent Railway was constructed between 1911 and 1917 to serve the growth of the Kent Coalfield that was being developed in East Kent. The consortium of Kent colliery and landowners envisaged a line that would link the collieries with the mainline and a new port at Richborough.

Although Richborough became an important port during WWI, the line did not cross the River Stour until after the war, by which time the port was in decline. Branch lines to Canterbury, Deal, and Birchington were planned but never completed.

The line was built to light railway standards by the engineer, Colonel H .F. Stephens. The first passengers were carried from 16^th October 1916, with just a few facilities being provided for them.

Wells Farm, near Eastry

Sandwich Road, Eastry

Knowlton Halt, was originally known as Tilmanstone and Knowlton, at Thorndon crossroads. Presumably the site of Ground Pine.

Shepherdwell station, with the Knees area and a never-used connection to the main line.

Golgotha tunnel

Eythorne station

Elvington Halt. The platform can still be seen now.

Eastry South, at the north end of Thornden Lane

Eastry north (Poison Cross) gave an opportunity for a nice pun.

Branch line to Hammill colliery, which was built but never operated. A brickworks replaced it.

Woodnesborough Station and Roman Road Station

Ash Town - clearly a metropolis

Staple station

WinghamColliery Halt

The line from Shepherdswell to Tilmanstone Colliery remained operational until the 1984/85 Miners Strike. Tilmanstone Colliery reopened for a short while but eventually ceased production in October 1986. Inevitably closure of the line followed in 1987.

In November 1985, the East Kent Railway Society had been formed with the intention of saving and reopening the remaining two and a quarter miles of line, but it was not until 1989 that the volunteers were able to start the massive task of clearing the tangle of shrubs, trees and other vegetation that had claimed the railway since closure. 

1  M. Lawson Finch & S.R. Garratt The East Kent Railway 2 vols – Oakwood Press (from library)

The village of Coldred at the time of the Census of 1841 and the Tithe Apportionment of 1844

The Census of 1841 and the Tithe Apportionment of 1844 give a good snapshot of the identity of villages in the mid-nineteenth century, a time of poverty after the Napoleonic Wars and falling grain prices, coinciding with rising rents and increased wealth of often-absent land-owners.

The details below are subject to the usual provisos regarding the accuracy of note-taking and interpretation.

Waldershare Estate

The eastern half of the parish was owned by the Earl of Guilford based at Waldershare, the title at the time being held by the sixth Earl, a clergyman and master of St Cross Hospital in Winchester. He was presumably not often resident in the family seat although he died at Waldershare in 1861.

Interestingly only one individual, William Easter, is recorded at Waldershare Mansion in the 1841 census, with a gardener and his wife (John and Jane Lloyd at the Garden House) and a couple at “Canterbury Gate”, John and Sarah Horton, in the grounds. Despite the fact that the mansion is in the parish of Coldred, three servants and seven labourers are listed in the Waldershare parish census.

The land owned and managed by the estate in the parish in 1844 (including the mansion, park and Wildernesse) was deemed to be worth £610 per year, while that in the parish of Waldershare was valued at £384pa. The estate also controlled almost all woodlands in the parishes.

Farms

The majority of the land in the western half of the parish is recorded in the Tithe Apportionment as being owned or managed by six Farmers. Listing them clockwise from the road to Lydden, they were:

Chilli Farm (worth £81 annual income) owned and managed by Charles Miller (45 in 1841) with 13 on the farm.

Unnamed (Upton?) Farm (worth £83) in the north west, owned by Henry Barton and Joseph Banks, and managed by George Clarke (from Colret House?) “and others”.

Coldred Court (£159) which was owned by the Earl, but managed by George Castle, aged 25, in 1841, as tenant.

Newsole Farm (£153) was also owned by the estate, and occupied by Kelsey Richards, 45, his wife Hester, 40, their family of 4 and five servants.

Singledge Farm (£139) was owned by the Commissioners of Dover Harbour (after it was bequeathed to them by Henry Matson in 1720) and occupied by John Marsh according to the Tithe Apportionment although the census shows four households headed by Agricultural Labourers in 1841. https://shepherdswellhistory.org/singledge-farm/

Parsonage Farm (£183) owned by Elizabeth Potter and occupied by George Potter.

Most of these farms border other parishes and so the total incomes are likely to be greater than just those shown for the Coldred parish.

Employment

In addition to the six farmers, eighteen villagers are noted as being Agricultural Labourers, with fifteen Male Servants and eight Female Servants.

Other Occupations

The village centred on Coldred Green which was surrounded by the houses of labourers, servants and tradesmen, dominated by Colret House at the top of the rise.

The Carpenters Arms is shown as a Beer Shop managed by John (45) and Ann Tritton (40).

A bailiff is shown as Richard Gilham (50) and his wife Mary (45) with eight children.

William Amos (60) was a carpenter, with his wife Mary aged 65.

Villagers

In total there were 157 villagers listed in the 1841 census, an increase of 31% since 1811. There was to be a further increase to 182 shown in the next census (1851) before a significant fall to 134 by 1861.

The average age of the 61 male adults was 31.6 years.

There were 32 females with an average age of 34 years old, a considerable numerical disparity likely created by the lack of work in the village for unmarried women and the impact of childbirth on women’s life-span. Just two men and two women were over 60.

The village in 1841 had 19 boys and 37 girls under 15; the youngest boy recorded as an Agricultural Labourer was 15 and there were two girls as Female Servants under 15 (Jane Rigden 12 and Jane Woodcock 14). There was no school in the village so presumably they walked to Shepherdswell, or to the schoolmistress Anna Pyner in the school house in Waldershare.

There were also three male and five female babies under 1 year old.

I have transcribed the 1841 census and applied it to the Tithe Apportionment, so if anyone is interested I'd be happy to share it - contact me on kingsdowner@hotmail.co.uk.