Peter Finch “My dad wasn’t a rich man but he looked after his pennies. He worked for the two Doctors, Hay and Cotton. He split his week between them, as a gardener for Dr Hay and a groom for Dr Cotton. He only got labourer’s wages, about two pounds a week, but he’d put something ...
Reference: WH0164
With the formation of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Management Committee in 1899, travelling conditions for passengers began to improve on the Westerham branch line. There were new locomotives in lined Brunswick green and new six-wheeled carriages as well. The elderly Cudworth engines previously used on the branch were replaced with James Stirling’s class ...
Reference: WH0167
Another group assembled with the radiator of a charabanc lurking just in the right hand side of frame. Everyone is sporting a rather large button-hole, so it’s some kind of celebration, but what…?
Reference: WH0169
Alongside being Dr. Hay’s gardener, Arthur Finch appears to have become his chauffeur as well, probably in the early 1930s when Dr. Cotton retired. Here he is standing on the front drive of Dr. Hay’s house, then called ‘Borde Hill’ on Vicarage Hill (now renamed as ‘Old Mill Leat’). Rosemary Pearson recalls “…Doctor Hay’s daughter Jean moved ...
Reference: WH0165
The ‘tablet’ was part of an electrical blocking system used to ensure there was only one moving locomotive on the branch-line at any moment in time. The large loop handle of the tablet made catching easier if this had to happen while the train was moving.
Reference: WH0119
Clive Gardiner designed this advert in 1937 for the Green Line Coach Company. In an eye-catching naive but colourful style, it shows Elm View Mill beside the Round Pond in Mill Lane at the west-end of town. For more information, click here
Reference: 0081
This accident caused by brake failure occurred at the foot of Westerham Hill in 1912 and shows the extent of damage sustained to the vehicle.
Reference: 0102