Swanley was just a small hamlet of three houses, when the Sevenoaks Railway opened
a branch line joining the London Chatham and Dover Railway’s (LC&DR) London Victoria
to Dover mainline at what became known as Swanley Junction. The junction, opened
on 2 June 1862, just a few hundred yards from what is now Swanley village. The LC&DR
built a large station at the junction which opened on 2 July 1862…. more
As with many other places, the population, around Swanley station, grew, and in 1894,
they built a small corrugated iron chapel until the completion of a stone church,
dedicated to Saint Mary the virgin, opened in 1901.
Swanley continued to grow, building three hospitals and a school in the 19th century.
