Station Road
Longfield > Roads
History
Station Road unsurprisingly owes its existence to the railway station. Interviewed in 1934, Thomas Crouch, who was born in Longfield in 1850 said "There was no Station road, for hop fields stretched from the Hartley Road to the Fawkham Road. The only way was the church path, the right of way which led to Fawkham." At the time all the land forming the future Station Road belonged to Longfield Court, one of the possessions of the Archdeacon of Rochester.
All this was to change with the coming of the railway, but not at first. Longfield was omitted when the railway opened in 1860 with trains running fast from Farningham Road to Meopham. This rankled with local people; in 1864 a writer to the Maidstone Journal called for a station where the parishes of Fawkham and Longfield meeting, saying local people derived no benefit from the line running through the parish. The site of the station was mentioned in 1865 when the Church Commissioners decided to break up and sell the Longfield Court estate. The auctioneers said this would "render the greatest portion of the property eligible for building purposes." The future Station Road formed the border between lots 4 and 5 of the sale. The Railway Tavern opened in 1866 but it is unclear whether Station Road was there by then, it certainly was when Longfield Station opened in 1872.
Originally Station Road ran southwards from Main Road and ended at the Station. The link to Hartley Road came much later. It was a private road, without tarmacadam, repairable at the expense of the railway company, a burden they disliked, particularly as they only had a small part of the frontage to Station Road. After being ordered to repair the road, they enquired about the council adopting the road in 1925, but were told that they would not consider this until a link to Hartley Road was built. In 1930 Dartford Rural District Council announced that Sir Gerald Hohler had agreed to sell the land for the extension of the road for £225 and Southern Railway had agreed to pay £300 towards the works. The works to extend, make up and surface with tar and kerb the road were completed in 1931.
In more recent times the success of Longfield as a shopping centre has led to issues with parking, both for shopping and commuting. As early as 1949 the parish council were asking the police to deal with dangerous parking. In 1958 the district council were considering a car park and public convenience on the junction with Essex Road (probably on the north side of the junction where there was vacant land). In the meantime British Rail announced the closure of the Longfield Goods Yard in 1961 and the Parish Council successfully campaigned for it to be converted to a car park, but it was not until 1970 it was opened with spaces for 90 cars. The Essex Road project was not proceeded with, but in 1964 the car park and toilets behind numbers 53-61 was built. It did not solve all the problems, shortly after it opened, the parish council complained that many people were still parking in the streets and parking charges for commuters were introduced in 1970. When the council transferred the car park to Waitrose in 1991, the latter agreed that it should be open at least 8am to 8pm and allow at least 1½ hours free parking for anyone, not just customers of the shop. They also agreed to provide replacement conveniences, which I understand are those in the store.
Shopping
Apart from the Railway Tavern, a grocer's shop is mentioned in the 1881 census. Gradually over time the commercial element of Station Road has increased.
The 1960s and 1970s saw a big expansion of shopping, including 55-59 (1960), 67-81 (1963), 6-14 (1964) and 9-23 (1973).
An existential threat to Longfield's trade came with the building of the New Ash Green shopping centre. The chairman of Longfield Parish Council claimed Span (the developers of New Ash Green) had said they wanted their shopping centre, with 800 parking places aimed at a much larger area, to "kill Longfield". Span hardly denied this, and said if Longfield traders were worried they should move to New Ash Green. As things have turned out, Longfield not only survived but prospered. Why may be down to the advantage of having the railway station, and maybe New Ash Green was the wrong sort of out of town shopping centre with no large destination stores.
Road numbering
Originally the road was a mixture of numbers and mostly names, and was fully numbered in 1960. The four properties that had numbers were renumbered at this time.
Parking and Traffic Orders
1962 Parking prohibited between 8.30am and 6.30pm (M-F) and 8.30am and 1pm (Sat) on parts of road from Main Road to Rail Bridge.
1965 Relaxation of parking prohibition outside shops opposite station to allowing parking for 2 hours.
1967 Parking prohibited on south side of road by Hartley Road junction.
1968 Parking in council car park limited to 15 hours per day.
1970 Charges of 1 shilling per day introduced for council car park for cars parked between 7am and 9.30am, otherwise free
1971 No right hand turn into Station Car Park
1971 Parking prohibited in part, and limited to 1 hour in 2 hours for rest of road.
1972 Taxi rank near station between 7am and 7pm
1974 Draft order which would have made Station Road one way from Hartley Road to Main Road (dropped from final order)
1976 Council car park charges to rise to 15p. Unchanged hours it will apply.
1980 Council car park charges to rise to 20p and 5p for motorbikes. Hours it will apply changed to 6.30am to 9.30am
1981 Parking prohibited 7am to 7pm in marked bus stop clearways.
1981 Council car park charges to rise to 25p for cars and 5p for motorbikes. Unchanged hours of application.
1983 Council car park charges to rise to 30p for cars and 5p for motorbikes. Unchanged hours of application.
1984 Council car park charges to rise to 35p for cars and 5p for motorbikes. Unchanged hours of application.
1985 Council car park charges to rise to 40p for cars and 5p for motorbikes. Unchanged hours of application.
1995 No loading or waiting in area centred on 59-61 Station Road.