Railway from London Bridge to Gravesend. Bow Arrow

Railway line from London Bridge to Gravesend
The line turns north eastwards
TQ 56066 74412

At the back end of Dartford an area named after a farm and associated with a mental hospital. There are still hospitals here and Bow Arrow was an isolation unit. The City of London mental hospital is now a housing estate and its little burial ground abandoned. Here is also a big local authority housing estate opened by Clement Attlee himself, and here  is a huge interchange for the Dartford Tunnel approach road.

Post to the west Dartford
Post to the east Stone Lodge
Post to the north Bob Dunn Way
Post to the south Dartford The Brent

Attlee Drive
Temple Hill Estate. This is a post Second World War housing venture by Dartford Borough Council. It was, was opened in 1947 by the then Prime Minister, Clement Attlee


Bow Arrow Lane
Said to be a lane which is probably Saxon. Until the 1890s the west section was a track along the railway. Bow Arrow Farm to the south
Bow Arrow Infections Diseases Hospital.  The Hospital opened in 1893 as an isolation hospital, replacing the fever hospital north of the Dartford Union workhouse. Originally wards were in temporary huts but a permanent hospital was built in 1904.  In 1935 a Nurses' Home opened, and a Nurses Training School established. The Hospital joined the NHS in 1948 and in 1950 became a tuberculosis sanatorium and later specialised in chest disorders. By 1982 it mainly long stay beds for geriatric patients and was later used for young physically disabled patients. It closed in 1983. The building has since been demolished and the site is now houses.  Some boundary walls may remain.
Littlebrook Hospital. In patient mental health care.
Littlestone Continuing Care Unit is for persons with a diagnosis of dementia and associated challenging behaviours.
Bow Arrow Lane Cemetery. This was the burial ground for Stone House Hospital and appears to be totally overgrown and abandoned
Greenacres. Shore lodge. Leonard Cheshire home
Chalk pit to the north of the road. This was used for landfill. There is a small plant at the northern end generating from the resulting methane.
Archery House. In the late 1980s Archery House was built at the northeast part of the Stone House site for patients with learning disabilities who were being relocated from Darenth Park Hospital. It is used for a range of NHS activities.
Footbridge over the M25 joins the two parts of the lane

Dartford Tunnel Approach
The tunnel was planned to connect to the planned "South Orbital" road, but because the line had not been fixed there was little choice but to terminate the approach road on the A2 Dartford Bypass. The approach roads are designated A282, because the Tunnel built in the 1960s was seen as a local connection. A second tunnel was added, and because it was a dual carriageway, 1980s the M25 was routed through it through.
Littlebrook Interchange. Only the south eastern section of the interchange is in this square. The junction was first built in 1988. It is a very busy junction and is Junction 1a of the A282

Howard Road
Brick Works. In the late 19th a brick works lay to the east of the road, disused by 1909. Earlier it had been in the ownership of Charles Barham


Invicta Road
87 Treetops. Short Breaks Unit for disabled children. This was originally Rainbow Lodge. Opened in 1988.
St.Michaels Iron Church. Built 1883 and administered from Stone church. It was on the east side, about half way down and the site is now housing.


Littlebrook Manor Way
St. Anselm's Catholic Primary School

Milestone Road
Gateway Primary School. This is an ‘academy’. It is on a site which appears to be marked as ‘Cobbs Croft’ on many maps.
19a Old School Room. Now offices this is marked as ‘Parish room’ on some maps.

Osbourne Road
This road intersects the site of the old Bow Arrow Hospital with new housing

Railway
Littlebrook Junction. This was two thirds of a mile east of Dartford and was formed in 1937. A grassed area alongside the line is the remains of the an area used as a siding in connection with this branch line
Branch line to Littlebrook power station came into use in 1937 with a mile-long single-track line to a the new power station near the river.
Signal box for Littlebrook Junction. This was on the up-side and was replaced in 1960

St Edmunds Road
Temple Hill Community Primary School
Temple Hill Baptist Church.  The foundation stone says that it was laid in 1955 and was a daughter church to that in Highfield Road.

St Vincent’s Avenue
This was previously Fulwich Lane but was renamed for St Vincent's Industrial School which was to the west of the road.
Fulwich Farm. This was south of the railway on the corner with Fulwich Road. It is said to have been a poultry farm and that Fulwich means a farm with fowls. In the 19th it was owned by a Mr. Hartley, growing Canary Seed.
Garage. The farm site has been a garage and owned by A.Pile, dating from 1918.
Fulwich Hotel and pub.
81 Inspiration House. The Redeemed Christian Church of God. The church orginally met at BETHS in Bexley

Sundridge Close
Bow Arrow Farm. The farm appears to have been nearby this close. The farmer was a potato grower, Mr. Oliver

Sources
Dartford Brickfield Map. Web site
Dartford Council. Web site
Gateway Primary School. Web site
Kent County Council. Web site
Kent Rail. Web Site.
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site
Millward and Robinson. Lower Thameside
Sabre. Web site
St. Anselm’s Catholic Primary school. Web site
Temple Hill Baptist Church. . Web site
Temple Hill Community Primary School. Web site
The Redeemed Christian Church of God. Web site
Tree Tops. Web site

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