Set beside the river Darent where it cuts through the     North Downs on its way to the Thames, Shoreham is     a village of just over one thousand inhabitants about
    six miles north of Sevenoaks in west Kent.

    Our best known monument is the great cross cut in     the chalk hillside to commemorate the dead of the
    First World War.
    The village also has a place in the folklore of the     Second World War, when the BBC named it the
    most bombed village in Britain.
    Today Shoreham Aircraft Museum displays numerous     relics of the air combats over southern England.

    Our best known former resident is Samuel Palmer,
    the watercolor artist and mystic, who painted his     most famous works here early in the 19th century and     attracted a circle of painters, poets and writers to the     village.
    There is even a theory that William Blake took his     inspiration for 'Jerusalem' from our 'clouded hills' and     certainly the Shoreham Women's Institute took it as     their anthem, to be taken up later by the national     organisation.

    Other famous former residents include Lovett     Cameron, the first European to cross central Africa,     the poet Lord Dunsany, Artist Harold Copping, who     often used Shoreham residents for his models, Sir     Joseph Prestwich, the controversial Victorian     geologist, and Robert Colgate, founder of the soap     and toothpaste empire, who fled to America because     of his sympathies with the French Revolution.

    The Shoreham & District Historical Society was     formed in 1997 to promote awareness of our history,     organise meetings and visits, conserve archives and     conduct and publish research.
    To date we have over 25 publications and have     conducted a major 'oral history' project, supported     principally by the Local Heritage Initiative, on the     experience of the village during the Second World     War.
    We have over 130 members with a subscription of
    £6 a year, which includes our quarterly newsletter,     Revista.

Bridge over the River Darent

View of the Cross

 

How to find us
Click map to enlarge

© 2004
Shoreham And District Historical Society