The Railway
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Hello. My Mum was evacuated to Hartfield during the war. She said that she was at Bolebrook Cottage/s but can’t remember the name of the farm that it was on or the name of the people who owned/ ran it. If anyone can help with any info or photos old or new of Bolebrook Cottages or if anyone has memories of my Mum it would be greatly appreciated. She is Kathleen Curtis and was evacuated to Hartfield from Bellingham in South East London 1939/1940>41.
Many thanks
Doug Bolt
Hello Doug, thanks for getting in touch. Bolebrook is a particularly ancient part of the parish and you may have seen several pictures of Bolebrook Castle under ‘Ancient Buildings’. The ‘Cottages’ I believe are the ones close to the remains of the gatehouse on the opposite side of the track. Being an ‘incomer’ myself of only 21 years I will pass you query on to our historian, Mike Parcell, who has a great deal of information and may have something relevant. I have come across other children who were evacuated to Hartfield at the beginning of the war. I live close to Bolebrook Mill which is a watermill noted in the Domesday Book but the other side of the (main) road to the other Bolebrook buildings. I will pop down and get a photo of the cottages near the castle to see if it rings any bells with your mother.
Hello doug
Hartfield brings back memories for me as i lived there on the station when i was a small child,with my mum,dad,and brother.
Our bedroom over looked the platform. I was 4years old at the time,i can only remember the diesel train’s that used the line.
We remained there after the line closed but moved to paddock wood in 1969.
Thank you Ian for your reminiscence of the railway station, it is good to have first hand memories. In what year were you 4 years old? The line closed on 1st January 1967 and the playgroup started in 1973. Chris
Hi Chris.
Sorry i’m making myself older than i am. I was 2 years old but still remember looking out our bedroom window and watching the diesel train go past. We moved to hartfield in 1965,my dad knew that the line was to close within the next 2 years.
We were all very upset when the line closed,another part of history gone forever. I still get goosebumps every time i pass it,and i often see (NOT REAL)Ghosts of me and my family living there,it was and always will be apart of me.
Does anyone know if there was a Platelayers/Permanant Way Gang Hut anywhere along the railway of Hartfield and Withyham?
I descend from Silvester Latter Edwards ( my Great Grandfather). He lived with his Mother and Father, William and Louisa Edwards working as a Farm Labourer at Reids(Reeds) Farm, Hartfield Parish (I cannot locate this farm or where it was?). He married Sarah Ann Weeding in 1884 and set up home at 93 Green Cottage, Hartfield ( anyone know this location?). He quit working on the farm and become a Platelayer for the railway. Unfortunately I have no knowledge as to where he was based. I am a fourth generation Railwayman thanks to Silvester, his son( my Grandad)and my Dad.
I shall be keeping an eye on this wonderful website as I am interested in the local history as it is from where I descended. There were a lot of Edwards in the Hartfield and Withyham area, and tracing my roots has been fun and confusing at times.
Thank you for contacting us with your interesting enquiry. I have added it to Parcell’s Postings and hope that we can provide some answers in due course. I thought that there was a hut very close to Hartfield station at the end of what was or became the coalyard but I could not say if it was actually a platelayers hut
Silvester Edwards b abt 1859.In 1891 he worked on the track as part of a gang of four as a labourer paid 3/- a day. Find my Past railway records
Green cottages I think were near Chessons corner on Withyham Road
There is a postcard of The Green Cottages for sale on Ebay at moment
Forgot to add Based at Hartfield and would have worked for the London Brighton and South coast Railway.
We often walk our dog along this lovely route. Wonderful to see Hartfield & Withyham stations as they were when they were open – thank you. Amazing to think they’ve been closed now for 50 years but were open for 100 before that! Withyham signal box is preserved at Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Rly and used to demonstrate what such a box was like to work.
Thank you for your reminiscence. The History Group went on an enjoyable outing to the Bluebell Railway quite recently. Shame that we did not know of the signal box connection. Perhaps I should try and get a photo of it now to match the original on the site!
This is nothing to do with the railway ime grasping at straws but does anyone know of a family from hartfield that apparently were well off had a son called simon who drove a sports car would probably of been around 20/25 in 1967 its important i find this man i only have a first name not a last please if anyone knows of him please post a reply he is my dad and ive only just found out about him sorry to ask on your site but thought that some of the origional generation from hartfield might know
Hi
Does anyone know if there were any deaths at Hartfield station. Particularly of a boy called Derek?
Does anyone have or recall any information on a private miniature railway which ran from Bassetts Manor to somewhere near Hartfield in the 1960’s? I think the engine turntable was in one of the oast houses. I used to visit Bassetts Manor as a child when my Great Grandmother lived there and I have some pictures taken in the gardens.
Mike Parcell has sent me some information about the Bassetts Manor railway with several photos and a long article that was sent to him back in 1992 by the then owner of Bolebroke Castle, Peter Hobcraft. The railway was built by a well known model railway company called Cromar White but the railway at Bassetts Manor was both the first and the longest that they had built being about 1.1/2 miles long and was started with a discussion in 1967. The connection with Bolebroke Castle was that there was a proposal to run a branch line down the side of a field to the top lake of Bolebroke Castle but was never constructed.
The Grand Opening was held on the 27th October 1968 with around 300 guests but, sadly, this was the one and only operating day for the completed railway as owner W.A.Bourner died of cancer later in the year and the whole estate and railway was sold in July 1969. A sad end to what could have been one of the outstanding model railways of the country.
I wonder if anyone knows about the similar railway that was constructed at Bolebroke Castle, presumably later, but was in evidence running beside the lane leading to Bolebroke and also beside the lake?
Janice, if you have any photos which include the railway or are just of general interest regarding Bassetts Manor I would be very happy to add them to a note in a new section about Bassetts rather than the Railway section although I will make reference to model railways in the main Railway section. I will include the model railway photos when I have scanned them.
Hello All
I’ve only just come across this website and although not from Hartfield I was from relatively nearby.
My question is about the date of the opening of the station playschool being 1973 as I took two photos in early 1974 just after getting my first ever new camera around Christmas 1973….a then new fangled Kodak 110 Instamatic. I still have the photos and negs and the station is still sort of derelict although on one of my photos the new awning on the platform has just been built. This camera superceded an 8 shot ( slides ) 126 Instamatic that I only had for the last six months of 1973….so without newspaper dates I am wondering if the school was open but using just one room or something as the view I took of the front of the station isn’t showing any sign of the playschool ?.
I believe the playgroup existed elsewhere and the parents and doubtless others clubbed together to buy the old station as a new home for the playgroup so it looks as if they may have been working on the building at the time of your photo. I will try to get you a more definitive answer for the next update of this section.
The Playgroup was opened in 1973 and I had the pleasure of being there on the day.
Below is a link that tells a little more about it. This link can be found on Hartfield Playgroup’s webpage
http://www.hartfieldplayschool.co.uk/about-us/our-history/
The photograph bottom left (in the link) shows Jenny Agutter under the railway bridge with local children. I am the little girl with long blonde hair in the centre of the photograph.
My late mother, Marge Hill helped to run the playgroup.
Thank you for asking about the playgroup, it has given me some happy memories.
Hi, we live in Railway Cottages on the old coal yard.
After speaking to our neighbors we have been wondering if there was any accidents on the site, as there has been some strange things happening every now and again.
I myself haven’t heard or seen anything but I have been told about weird noises, cold spots in some of the houses.
Would be interested to find out.
Justin
Hi there, does anyone know what happened to another small miniature which was called the Perryhill Railway? There’s a video of it on YouTube and it looks to run round some sort of small lake or something https://youtu.be/YBFi6j7797I If anybody knows where this is and if it still runs, that would be very helpful!