Kent Ramblers Walk 3

Points of Interest

Dunstall Priory

The English home of the playwright Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) who at one time had five plays running simultaneously on Broadway. The family also had an estate at Dunsany in Ireland.

Pilcher Monument

Opened in 2006, the monument marks the site of pioneering experiments in manned flight undertaken by Percy Pilcher in 1896 and 1897, initially using gliders.
He later designed and built a powered triplane but was killed in a gliding accident in 1899 before he had the opportunity to test it. Had he lived he might have beaten the Wright Brothers to the first successful powered flight.

Concrete Structures

You will pass two or three of these on the walk.
They are the remains of unusual stiles dating back before, possibly well before, 1964 when they were mentioned in a London Transport book of "Country Walks".

Public Transport

The walk is ideal for travelling by train to Shoreham Station on the route from Victoria to Maidstone or St Pancras and City Thameslink to Sevenoaks.

Fox and Hounds

This pub at Romney Street which you may find marked on your Ordnance Survey map is no longer open.

Austin Lodge Valley

This charming valley, now dry, was probably formed in the white chalk of the North Downs during the most recent glacial period. There were no glaciers here but the climate was cold enough to freeze any moisture in the chalk, making it impermeable to water so that during periods of surface thaw the water would form a stream that cut the valley into the chalk. In modern times the chalk is permeable to water so that streams cannot form. As the chalk gradually dissolved and washed away there were left behind flints which had been suspended within the chalk and clay formed from silt deposited with along with the shells of tiny sea creatures when the chalk was laid down in clear water. This 'clay with flints' forms the relatively thin soil of the valley.

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