APRIL 2026
As the 1920s progressed, hopes that a railway could finally come to Tatsfield were kept alive. In January and February 1926, the issue had been where the station should be. In March, the Parish Council was lobbying the District Council for financial assistance for the proposed Southern Heights Light Railway. However, there was no unanimity. As the Westerham Herald reported, one parish councillor was concerned that the arrival of a railway service would bring “riff-raffs” to Tatsfield, content to “live in hovels”.
Another issue that came up again in April was whether there was a public right-of-way for vehicles across Westmore Green from Redhouse Road to Lusted Hall Lane. It was planned to block the route by stopping access where today there are indeed posts at the end of Redhouse Road. At the April meeting one member insisted that the route had been used for 40 years for wheeled traffic. “Moreover,” he said, “a dead body had been carried across the green, which further strengthened the claim”.
At the annual church meeting in the middle of the month, it was reported that the number of communicants at Easter had been the largest recorded - 118. That was one in eight of the population. More than £24 – the equivalent of nearly £1,300 in today’s money - had been raised for the church maintenance fund.
At the end of April, Tatsfield also found its way into a national ‘society’ magazine which published a picture captioned: “a 21 h.p Lanchester rising out of Tatsfield to Cudham, Kent”. The connection with Tatsfield was not explained. .
MARCH 2026
It was in March 1926 that the scene was set for the general strike which was to become etched in the memory of those who grew up between the two world wars. That month the government was recommended to rationalise the mining industry with redundancies, a 13.5% pay cut, the merging of pits and increased profit-sharing between owners and workers. The Westerham Herald carried regular reports, reflecting the fact that there was a major coalfield at the other end of Kent. One local Women’s Institute meeting had spent some time discussing the issue.
.Last month I mentioned a weekend school for conductors of choirs organised by Roland Broughton of Tangland Castle in Goatsfield Road. In March 1926 came a sequel in which national politics made a further impact on Tatsfield. This was a follow-up musical programme held at Potter’s Assembly Room – later to become the Bakery - on behalf of the Labour Party, which one speaker said was at the time facing an uphill task in the south of England.
Meanwhile, the prospect of a railway service for Tatsfield was still in the air. At the March Parish Council meeting there was a call to lobby the District Council over its apparent antagonism to the idea. Tatsfield decided unanimously that the railway could “mean a considerable increase in the rateable value and would itself contribute a large share to the rates”.
Another recurring issue was insanitary housing in the built-up part of the village. The District Council had banned the use of one house between 1st October and Easter each year and it was then demolished. But there was good news too. The plans had been drawn up for the proposed council housing in Lusted Hall Lane.
Towards the end of the month came news of an accident on the Approach Road. Mrs. P.J. Parker of Parkers Stores on Westmore Green had been riding her motor cycle when it ran into the bank in the bend at Furze Corner. The machine overturned and she was trapped underneath. Dr Hoffman of Lusted Hall was called and it was some hours before she regained consciousness and was able to be taken home.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026
It’s not only in our own archives that material about Tatsfield’s past is to be found. The huge British Library newspaper collection is constantly being added to, and so it was that I came across further evidence of political activity in Tatsfield a hundred years ago. Once again it happened at Tangland Castle in Goatsfield Road.
This time – in the 19th February 1926 edition of Workers Weekly – it was a weekend school for conductors of choirs associated with the Labour Party organised by Roland Boughton, the composer of the Immortal Hour, once the longest-running West End opera, who had lived at Tanglands in earlier years.
The local papers at the beginning of the year give an account of a busy Tatsfield, with much of the news centering on Westmore Green.
There had long been plans for the Southern Heights Light Railway, with a station near the Village Hall. In January 1926 the Surrey Mirror was suggesting that the railway would run on an embankment or even a viaduct across Westmore Green! And by February the Westerham Herald was talking about a station near the White House.
Another issue was a track across Westmore Green connecting Lusted Hall Lane with Redhouse Road. Eight residents had protested against plans to stop vehicles being driven on the track, saying it had been open from time immemorial. Nevertheless it was decided to stop vehicular traffic using the track – hence the concrete posts at the end of Redhouse Road that exist to this day.
Also at the beginning of the year, the Working Men’s Club called for the filling in of the village pond because of the flooding of its and the other cellars of premises on the Parade. At the next parish council meeting it was recommended that the pond’s bank should be raised with a brick edge to prevent water spilling across the road in front of the Parade and that the pond itself should be cleaned out. At the same meeting action was also called to stop horses being grazed on Westmore Green in defiance of the by-laws.
Meanwhile, Godstone Rural District Council had been reviewing the state of some of the narrow roads in its area and decided that Chalkpit Road, Oxted and White Lane, Tatsfield should be closed entirely for vehicular traffic.
In the second week of the New Year, there was a serious fire at Mr P.J. Parker’s grocery and provisions store at the Parade. According to the Westerham Herald it had been caused by ‘the fastening of a hanging lamp giving way, the oil from the lamp setting alight various things’ and then spreading to the floor and onto the grocery counter. The Westerham Fire Brigade brought a hand pump and ‘a retired member of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Mr Watson with Mr Longley and Mr L Watson were early on the scene and it is undoubtably due to their efforts that the fire was confined to one side of the shop and that the destruction of the whole premises was averted’.
On a more positive note, the Surrey Mirror reported that the County Council was introducing a rural library scheme and that the first place to receive books was Tatsfield – ‘which was perhaps the most remote part of Surrey and that they had shown their appreciation by complaining that the consignment of books was not big enough (laughter)’.
And in February, the Surrey Mirror published a weather report. In January, Tatsfield’s temperature had been down to 21° F (6° C). It had been as high as 47° F (8° C) on three days at the end of the month.