Knockholt railway station is on the

South Eastern Main Line The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the C ...

, located in the

London Borough of Bromley The London Borough of Bromley () is the southeasternmost of the London boroughs that make up Greater London, bordering the ceremonial county of Kent, which most of Bromley was part of before 1965. The borough's population is an estimated 332,336 ...

, Greater London. It is down the line from London Charing Cross and is situated between and stations. It is in

Travelcard Zone 6 Fare zone 6 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, National Rail services (since 2007), and the El ...

and is located next to the

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

boundary with the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

district of

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

. The boundary is the farm bridge at the southern end of the platforms.

Location

The station is north-northeast of the village of

Knockholt Knockholt is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located north west of Sevenoaks & south of Orpington, adjacent to the Kent border with Greater London. The village is mostly a ribbon development, surro ...

but closer to several other settlements. The station serves several small communities in the Sevenoaks district in addition to Knockholt;

Badgers Mount Badgers Mount is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England It is located 3.6 miles south east of Orpington and 5.6 miles north west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with Greater London. Transport Rail The nea ...

to the southeast,

Well Hill Well Hill is a small rural hamlet within the civil parish of Shoreham in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies 3 miles south east of Orpington & 3.5 miles south of Swanley, adjacent to the Kent border with Greater London. Well Hill T ...

northeast, and

Halstead Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011 Pratt's Bottom Pratt's Bottom is a village in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley and, prior to 1965, within the historic county of Kent. It is south of its parent parish of Orpington, lies about 100 metres above sea level and beyond ...

is only west-southwest; and also

Chelsfield Chelsfield is an area in south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley and the historic county of Kent. It lies south of Goddington, west of Well Hill, north of Pratt's Bottom and east of Green Street Green. The area is ...

(although having its own railway station, is in parts closer to Knockholt station) at about to the north and west. To avoid confusion with

Halstead Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011 Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

it was named after the next closest village.

Services

All services at Knockholt are operated by

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

using , , and

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 2 tph to London Charing Cross via and * 2 tph to Connections onto fast services to London, and can be made by changing at or .

History

When the South Eastern Railway (SER) opened their "cut off" line through Orpington, Sevenoaks to Tonbridge in 1868, there was no station between Chelsfield and Dunton Green. A Knockholt Vestry meeting in March 1871 resolved to request the SER to build a station for Knockholt but this request was initially refused. Eventually, the SER agreed to provide a station if a £3,000 contribution was provided by "local parties," (). This was raised and "Halstead for Knockholt" (the station being much closer to Halstead than Knockholt) was opened in 1876.''A History of Knockholt'', pp. 128–130, by David Waldron Smithers, . Between 1887 and 1915 a twice daily bus service operated from Knockholt village to the station. In 1899 the SER joined with its arch rival to form the

South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easter ...

(SECR).

Alfred Smithers Sir Alfred Waldron Smithers (4 October 1850 – 22 August 1924) was a British businessman and politician, and a pioneer of the railway industry in England and Canada. Smithers was born in Brixton, Surrey. His parents, William Henry Smithers and ...

, who had moved to Knockholt in 1881, became deputy chairman of the SECR. At the strong suggestion of Smithers, the station name was changed to "Knockholt" in 1900 to avoid the confusion which had arisen with Halstead Station in Essex (and coincidentally giving Smithers a local station named after his village).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knockholt Railway Station Railway stations in the London Borough of Bromley DfT Category E stations Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1876 Railway stations served by Southeastern