Hamstreet And Orlestone Railway Station

Hamstreet and Orlestone Railway Station is a country railway station built in 1851 as part of the Ashford to Tonbridge line, designed by William Trees. It is constructed of red brick, with stock brick pilasters and a stringcourse, stucco dressings, and a slate roof with overhanging eaves and two tall brick chimneystacks, the southern of which is painted. The upper part of the south end of the building is also painted. The building is two storeys high, with three windows to the upper floor and four to the lower.

The station’s design is asymmetrical, roughly T-shaped with projecting gables on both sides. Originally, the ground floor comprised a booking office, a clerk's room, ladies' and gentlemen's toilets, and a porters’ room, with a stationmaster's flat situated above.

The west, or entrance, front features a first-floor round-headed casement window below the projecting gable, accompanied by two small casement windows on the ground floor. The remainder of this section has two casement windows divided by columns on the upper floor and larger mullioned and transomed casements on the ground floor, alongside double doors. The platform side presents a paired round-headed arch to the first floor of the gable and two window openings below; one window is blocked, while the other is a casement window. The remaining section of the platform side has casement windows on the first floor and mullioned and transomed casements on the ground floor. A verandah with a slate roof, supported on large curved wooden brackets, runs along the building’s facade, excluding the northern bay. The north elevation has two casement windows divided by columns on the upper floor and a blocked round-headed opening on the ground floor.

Internal modifications have partitioned the original booking office into a smaller office, with the remainder adapted to serve as a waiting room. The clerk’s office is now located upstairs, and the porter’s room now functions as a store.

The station’s design is a mirror image of Winchelsea Railway station, and original plans for the latter survive.

The station retains its verandah and an unusual staggered foot crossing for passengers, a feature distinctive for the south of England, and has remained externally unaltered.