Sevenoaks takes its name from the Saxon word 'Seouenaca', which relates to the seven oak trees near to a small chapel in Knole Park.
Sevenoaks was historically part of the Great Manor of Otford, held by the Archbishops of Canterbury. In 1200, a market was started in the town and due to its economic success, Sevenoaks was made a manor it its own right.
Knole was bought for £266.13s.4d by Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1456 from William, Baron of Say and Sele. It is known as a 'calendar House' as it has 365 rooms, 52 staircases and 7 courtyards. Bourchier died at Knole in 1486 and in 1538, it came into the possession of Henry VIII, eventually passing to Queen Elizabeth I, who gave it to her cousin Thomas Sackville. The Sackville family are still in residence. At one time Mary Tudor was confined to Knole by Archbishop Cranmer who resided there by permission of her father King Henry VIII.
The Sevenoaks parish church is dedicated to St Nicholas, and built in the 13th Century, although substantially rebuilt in the 15th Century. The poet John Donne was rector from 1616 to 1631.
In 1859, an independent concern known as the 'Sevenoaks Railway' was formed to link the London Chatham & Dover Railway's main line with the market town of Sevenoaks. A nine-mile single-track branch was planned to spur off a mile from a locality known as 'Swanley Village'. At its southern end, the branch terminated on the outskirts of Sevenoaks; this was forced upon the company by local landowners who opposed the railway running over or near their property. The branch opened on 2nd June 1862.
