Smeeth railway station

Smeeth is a disused railway station on the South Eastern Main Line which served the village of Smeeth in Kent, England. The station opened in 1852 and closed in 1954.

Smeeth, a scattered village community of a few hundred persons in the early 1840s, was initially ignored by the South Eastern Railway when it constructed its main line through the area to reach Folkestone. Situated 4.5 miles from Ashford, the small village was primarily a farming community producing wheat, barley, oats, beans and peas; the grain was processed at Evegate Mill on the River Stour to the south of the railway line, which was the most substantial structure in the area. In 1850, six years after opening the South Eastern Main Line, a deputation of local tradesmen pressed the SER to open a station in the village, arguing that the potential goods traffic that could be generated would outweigh the lack of passenger receipts. Although there was little to suggest that Smeeth could justify and support a railway station, the SER agreed to the venture. A site was chosen 1 mile to the south of the village at a point where the Bonnington to Smeeth road crossed the railway line. The land was owned by the Knatchbull-Hugessen family, Sir Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen being the local Member of Parliament and, in later years, a director of the SER.

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