Brockham

 

Railway

Brockham Sidings.  Sidings left the north side of the railway to serve limeworks, brickworks, hearthstone mines, and sand pits.  The arch under the line by Pilgrim's Cottages took the siding to the sand pits.  There were extensive railways in the area to serve the various industries, with a siding, built in 1867, connecting to the main line between the level crossing and the cattle arch by Pilgrim's Way Cottages. A standard gauge track from this siding to the limekilns was used to bring in coal and take away the hearthstone and lime. This steeply- graded line was worked by a steam haulage engine built by Filmer & Mason of Guildford in 1874, housed in a building adjacent to the eastern battery of kilns. The private siding was closed in 1935. Another standard gauge connection ran from the siding to the brickworks, and from there to the sandpit passing through the arch where the cottages now stand - neither the cottages nor the present A25 had been built at this time. A very extensive narrow gauge network existed within the quarry areas for transporting the chalk to feed the kilns. The wagons used for this were all horse-drawn. Traces may be seen of some of the routes in the quarry.

Brockham Sand Pit

Sand was extracted from a pit south of the present A25 road and north of the Old Reigate Road.

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