Copyright Kent Past 2010
Kent Past
The History of Kent
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History of Swanley Village
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. As with many other places, the population, around Swanley station, grew, and to separate the two places the smaller became known as Swanley Village.
Swanley Village church is a Grade: II listed building, and dedicated to Saint Paul.
The Victorian architect Ewen Christian built the church in 1861, with much of the
internal fixtures by the first vicar Rev M S Edgell. Brothers John and William Eastwood,
the vicar’s brothers-