Porchester Close entrance (taken 2016) 22-32 Porchester Close (taken 2020) | Porchester Close was built about 1978-1980. Along with Caxton Close it is one of the later developments of the Wellfield Estate. The estate was built as council housing, but some have been sold under the Right to Buy Scheme. 8 of the 42 houses had been sold by the time the estate was transferred to the West Kent Housing Association in 1989, since then this has doubled to 16. The estate was built as council housing, but some have been sold under the Right to Buy Scheme. 8 of the 42 houses had been sold by the time the estate was transferred to the West Kent Housing Association in 1989, since then this has doubled to 16, although two of those have since been reacquired for the social housing sector. 26 of the houses are owned by West Kent Housing Assocation, an arm's length body created by Sevenoaks Council in 1989, a further 2 are owned by another housing association - the Dartford based Moat Homes Limited. This leaves 14 houses as owner occupied or privately rented. Porchester Close has a different history to most of the Wellfield Estate, as only numbers 2-8 (even) were part of the Payne and Trapps 'Fawkham Park Estate'. They bought a large block of land in 1905 and converted it into building plots. However most of the land was not developed until the Dartford Rural District Council compulsorily purchased the estate. Payne and Trapps named one of the estate roads Porchester Crescent which gives the road its name, although no part of Porchester Close was on Porchester Crescent. The council also acquired the land for Porchester Close from its Gorsewood Road landowners in 1964. Some of Gorsewood was lost to house building, and there were fears the whole wood would be lost, but in the end Sevenoaks District Council transferred what remained of the wood to Hartley Parish Council in 1978. |
Porchester Close: Modern map (colour) with 1936 map superimposed | |
Subject | Details |
KCC Reference | U15352 Unclassified Single Carriageway (adopted) |
Length of Road | 0.12 miles (186m) |
Area of Road | 2.67 acres / 1.08 ha Measured using Google Maps Area Calculator Tool |
Houses | Semi-detached houses 6 Terraced houses 36 |
Density | 15.7 houses per acre (38.7 houses per hectare) |
Population in 2011 | 120 |
Energy Consumption | 13,837 KWH per year (46th highest out of 62 roads) |