Part 2 In Horsmonden Tunnel from the last post.

There were two tunnels on this line, the other being near Cranbrook Station but neither would have been built under the original plans. Originally the line would run west of Horsmonden and then near Brenchley then south to Lamberhurst before swinging east to Goudhurst, but then it was decided that the line could be shortened by well over a mile by sinking a tunnel and running through Horsmonden. It must have been desperately disappointing for Lamberhurst residents as teams of navies had already started work in their area.

 

Looking North towards the Northern Portal and back towards the Southern Portal.

Calcite and grime deposits hide the red brickwork.

Layers of gloop and scum cover the floor.

 

 

 

 

The first refuge appears on the west side white washed in calcite deposits. It is impessively deep but only about 4 feet 6 inches high as if designed for a fat dwarf.

 

 

And a couple of pictures of the more northerly eastern refuge which shows it's brick work  to greater appeal.

 

 

 

And more markings from the maintenance team 60 years ago perhaps. It is a lonely feeling thinking that people once cared but now no-one seems to give a stuff.

 

 

Approaching the Northern Portal now.

 

 

..And looking back South. it is not always clear but the tunnel does curve slightly.

 

 

The view from the Northern Portal is like being half way up a mountain looking down a long valley that has a lot of fallen debris, lichen covered rocks and general rubbish dumped in it.

 

 

 

After some yards of scrambling over tree trunks and trying to avoid the swamp this is the view back.

 

 

  

 

 

 

Perhaps another 50 yards on.

 

 

There is no firm ground here it is a mad scramble and progress is slow.

 

 

This picture does not do justice to how impossible the terraine is. I hear the occasional car from the B2162 road over the tunnel but never hear anything else apart from an intermittant cock crowing. Above me up the bank on my right is a fence with an open gate, locals obviously throw their garden waste down here a lot.

 

 

I have had to move up and down the bank in order to make any progress. Here is one of the bogs which is fed by the leak in the tunnel lining seeping through all the obstacles blocking the Northern Portal. Most of the gloop has been filtered out now and the water looks cleaner.

 

 

Another look back at the tunnel through this crazy jungle. I loose my glasses somewhere among clawing branches and can't see anything, it takes ten minutes of desperate fumbling to find them. Above me that cock is crowing again.

 

 

A last look back (with my glasses back on again). The entire track bed to Goudhurst was apparently wide enough to support two tracks throughout, except for the tunnels and this cutting to the north of it, according to the Board of Trade report back in 1892 

 

 

Now the ground is getting easier and rising (when it should be dropping).

 

 

 

There are a number of osiers or willows which have been coppiced in the last two years. Someone is coming here intermittantly. There are also about 20 empty wine bottles, it looks like someone else likes a drink or 6!

 

 

 

  

Back to 'normality' and my birch pole is invaluable in getting through this lot. This forest of thorns is pretty intimidating, I wonder if Sleeping Beauty is anywhere about?

 

 

 

 

  

 

The cutting goes on.  The banks seem to be getting shallower though as they should be.

 

 

 

I think at this point the railway would be kinking around to the right and be at the end of the cutting but now I'm met with an electrified fence! It was around here that Horsmonden Station's down distant signal would be (1,035 yards from the signal box at Horsmonden Station according to Brian Hart's excellent book 'The Hawkhurst Branch'.) Up and to the right can be seen houses on the Maidstone Road.

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

This is the nearest the Hawkhurst Line ever got to electrification, an electrified fence. Never-the-less to avoid the fence I  take a left turn down a sort of track and find an abandoned apple orchard, it looks like nothing has been pruned for perhaps 8 years. I'm going back on myself now so I need to drop down into the adjacent field and then follow it along in line with the track bed.