Knockholt was opened in 1876 as “Halsted for Knockholt” by the South East Railway Company. The name was chosen as it was closer to the village of Halsted.
However, this soon changed when the railway company merged with the South Eastern and Chatham railway in 1899. By 1900, the station had been renamed Knockholt, even though the village was 3 miles away. The official reason is that it was to avoid confusion with Halsted in Essex. But a more popular view is that it changed because the deputy chairman of the new company lived in Knockholt, and he wanted the prestige of a station named after where he lived.
Knockholts’ main claim to fame is that it is one of the inspirations for the book “ The Railway Children”. The author Edith Nesbit lived close by at Halsted Hall and was able to see the station house from the balconies.
This canopy on platform two is probably the only remaining original structure here, but is in good order and is very nice to see it is still standing.
This station building replaces the original, and as far as it goes, I think it is of 1980’s origin, please correct me in the comments if you know better!! It is of nice design, and serves its purpose, however at time of writing is only open in the mornings.
The station has two trains per hour in both directions off-peak Monday to Saturday. Extra trains run during the peak hours, and it only has one train per hour in each direction on Sundays.
The 2019 / 2020 entry and exit figures were 250 766.
Knockholt is a nice station to visit, although a lot of construction was taking place during my visit in 2022, which did rather spoil videography. The original shelter on platform two is worth seeing however and is certainly a grand design even by today’s standards. It is a shame that the original station building no longer exists, but at least it does have one!!
Below is a video taken in 2021
Thanks for reading, I’ll leave you with my tagline :
“If you can, get out there, get on the railway, and see where it takes you.” ©
Rainham Rail Enthusiast 