Shoreham, Kent
Encyclopedia
River Darent
The River Darent or River Darenth is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames in England. Its name is believed to be from a Celtic word meaning 'river where oak-trees grow'...
six miles north of Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a commuter town situated on the London fringe of west Kent, England, some 20 miles south-east of Charing Cross, on one of the principal commuter rail lines from the capital...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
: it is in the District of Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks (district)
Sevenoaks is a local government district covering the western most part of Kent in England. Its council is based in the town of Sevenoaks. It was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the Sevenoaks Urban District, Sevenoaks Rural District and part of Dartford...
. The parish includes the settlements of Badgers Mount
Badgers Mount
Badgers Mount is a village in Kent, south-east England, situated approximately south-east of Orpington and north-northwest of Sevenoaks. It is part of the Sevenoaks district, and is also in the parish of St Margaret's Church and civil parish of Shoreham....
and Well Hill
Well Hill
Well Hill is a small relatively rural settlement, a large hamlet or possibly a small village, in the Sevenoaks district of Kent. It lies immediately east of the Greater London border, is southeast of Charing Cross, London, and is within and very close to the M25 motorway...
.
The probable derivation of the name is estate at the foot of a steep slope. Steep slope was from the Saxon word scor. pronounced shor, but written sore by Norman scribes.
The village of Shoreham contains four traditional independent pubs: Ye Olde George Inne, The King's Arms, The Two Brewers and the Crown; with another in nearby Twitton.
History
The Darent valley was one of the major areas of Stone AgeStone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
settlement; and Shoreham is mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
.
It was also known as a smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
area. Moreover, Shoreham was the most bombed village in the United Kingdom during the Second World War due to the fact the Army took over several manor houses for operational use.
Paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
making was once a local industry; the mill closed finally in 1925.
War memorial
There is a white memorial cross in the hillside opposite the village church. It was dug in 1920 as a memorial to local men killed in action.Shoreham was also the birthplace and home of Private Thomas Highgate
Thomas Highgate
Private Thomas James Highgate was a British soldier during the early days of the First World War, and the first British soldier to be convicted of desertion and executed during that war...
, who, aged 19, became the first British soldier to be shot for desertion after the First World War Battle of Mons
Battle of Mons
The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders. At Mons, the British army attempted to hold the line of the...
on 8 September 1914. However, there is no sufficient evidence to suggest that he was deserting his post; Pte Highgate was undefended at his court martial because all his regimental comrades had been killed, injured or captured.
In 2000, Shoreham Parish Council voted not to include his name on its war memorial. However, after a posthumous pardon in 2006, it was considered that his name might be added.
Shoreham Aircraft Museum
The official opening of the Shoreham Aircraft MuseumShoreham Aircraft Museum
The Shoreham Aircraft Museum is located in the village of Shoreham near Sevenoaks in Kent, England on the south-east edge of Greater London. It was founded by volunteers in 1978 and is dedicated to the airmen who fought in the skies over southern England during World War II.The museum houses...
in 1978 was attended by fifteen former Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
pilots. It pays lasting tribute to all those airmen who fought in the skies over southern England during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and houses a substantial collection of aviation relics excavated by the group over many years from sites of crashed British and German aircraft, as well as items which have been donated.
Run by local enthusiasts, the Museum is largely funded by proceeds made by visitors whose donations contribute to the recovery and preservation of the artefacts.
The Battle of Britain, brought the village of Shoreham directly into the war, when on 15 September 1940, a Dornier Do 17
Dornier Do 17
The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift , was a World War II German light bomber produced by Claudius Dornier's company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke...
Z, part of a force of about 100 German bombers approaching London, was shot down shortly before noon. The invading formation had been challenged by nine RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
squadrons and the battle developed into a series of individual 'dogfights'. The unfortunate pilot of the Dornier was forced to land in a field at Castle Farm, with a Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
circling overhead, its cockpit canopy open, and its pilot waving a handkerchief, to signal a warning to the growing crowd of hop-pickers nearby to stay away until the Shoreham Home Guard
British Home Guard
The Home Guard was a defence organisation of the British Army during the Second World War...
arrived to recover the German crew. Feldwebel Heitsch, the pilot and Feldwebel Pfeiffer, the observer, were driven to The Fox & Hounds pub in Knatts Valley, where they were bought a brandy before being driven to Sevenoaks Police Station. The museum holds a collection of photographs of the Dornier, along with items taken from the wreckage at the time.
Shoreham duck race
Notable events
- On 29 September 1934, Airspeed CourierAirspeed Courier|-See also:-External links:**...
G-ACSY of London, Scottish & Provincial Airways Ltd crashed1934 London, Scottish & Provincial Airways Airspeed Courier crashOn 29 September 1934, an Airspeed Courier of London, Scottish & Provincial Airways Ltd crashed at Tiverton Bottom, Shoreham, Kent, United Kingdom. The aircraft was on a scheduled international passenger flight from Heston Aerodrome, Middlesex, United Kingdom to Le Bourget Airport, Paris France. All...
at Tiverton Bottom, killing all four people on board. The aircraft was on a scheduled international passenger flight from HestonHeston AerodromeHeston Aerodrome was a 1930s airfield located to the west of London, UK, operational between 1929 and 1947. It was situated on the border of the Heston and Cranford areas of Hounslow, Middlesex...
to ParisLe Bourget AirportParis – Le Bourget Airport is an airport located in Le Bourget, Bonneuil-en-France, and Dugny, north-northeast of Paris, France. It is now used only for general aviation as well as air shows...
.
Notable people
(in alphabetical order)- Verney Lovett CameronVerney Lovett CameronVerney Lovett Cameron was an English traveller in Central Africa and the first European to cross equatorial Africa from sea to sea.-Biography:He was born at Radipole, near Weymouth, Dorset...
(1844–1894), first European to cross Equatorial Africa from coast to coast, buried in the village graveyard. - Robert Colgate, was a Shoreham farmer and a sympathiser with the French RevolutionFrench RevolutionThe French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
who, having been forced to leave Britain in 1793, travelled to the USA where his son William ColgateWilliam ColgateWilliam Colgate was an American manufacturer who founded what became the Colgate toothpaste company in 1806.- History :...
founded the famous ColgateColgate-PalmoliveColgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
company in 1806. - Shena MackayShena MackayShena Mackay FRSL , is a Scottish novelist born in Edinburgh. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1996 for The Orchard on Fire.-Biography:...
(author) though born in Edinburgh, grew up in Shoreham. - Lord DunsanyEdward Plunkett, 18th Baron DunsanyEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany was an Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work, mostly in fantasy, published under the name Lord Dunsany...
(1878–1957), the writer, lived here, at Dunstall Priory, serving in the Home Guard during World War II, and is buried here, with his wife - London-born artist Samuel PalmerSamuel PalmerSamuel Palmer was a British landscape painter, etcher and printmaker. He was also a prolific writer. Palmer was a key figure in Romanticism in Britain and produced visionary pastoral paintings.-Early life:...
, (1805–1881) lived in the village from 1826 to 1835 where he was part of a group of artists who followed William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
(there is a theory that Blake took his inspiration for 'Jerusalem' from the village's surroundings) and called themselves The Ancients. Palmer's work vividly depicts the local rural landscapes of the 1820s. Contrary to local myth, he did not live at the 'Water House' on the River Darent, but in a run-down farm cottage that has since been demolished. The mistake arises because his father, Samuel Palmer senior, rented the 'Water House' for some years. - Anthony PowellAnthony PowellAnthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
, writerWriterA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
Powell's family lived at Dunstall Priory during the war and he visited whenever he was able to take leave from his duties at the War OfficeWar OfficeThe War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
. - Joseph PrestwichJoseph PrestwichSir Joseph Prestwich FRS, was a British geologist and businessman, known as an expert on the Tertiary Period and for having confirmed the findings of Boucher de Perthes of ancient flint tools in the Somme valley gravel beds....
, geologistGeologistA geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
, lived in Shoreham until his death in 1896 - William Wall (theologian)William Wall (theologian)William Wall was a British priest in the Church of England who wrote extensively on the doctrine of infant baptism. He was generally an apologist for the English church and sought to maintain peace between it and the Anabaptists.He was born in Kent, got his BA from Queen's College, Oxford in 1667...
, lived in Shoreham - Naomi WattsNaomi WattsNaomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...
(born 28 September 1968), Hollywood actress, was born in Shoreham - John WesleyJohn WesleyJohn Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
is known to have often preached here; he was friends of the then vicar.
Communications
- Road: Shoreham stood on the turnpikeToll roadA toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
which ran from DartfordDartfordDartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. It is situated in the northwest corner of Kent, England, east south-east of central London....
to Sevenoaks, opened between 1750-1780. The route of that road is now followed by the A225. - Rail: Shoreham railway stationShoreham railway stationShoreham railway station serves Shoreham in Kent, England. Train services are provided by Southeastern.The ticket office here was closed c 1992, having been manned only during part of the day; these days, a PERTIS passenger-operated ticket machine issues 'Permits to Travel' - which are exchanged...
is on the SwanleySwanleySwanley is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located on the south-eastern outskirts of London, north of Sevenoaks town. The town boundaries encompass the settlements of Swanley itself, Hextable and Swanley Village...
to Sevenoaks line and was opened on 2 June 1862. Shoreham is a good base for walkers.