One Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks - Dunton Green
Dunton Green is a small village (forming a northern suburb of Sevenoaks) and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, lying in the valley of the River Darent, three miles north of Sevenoaks.
The original ecclesiastical parish of Dunton Green was part of Otford parish. The parish church is dedicated to St John the Divine.
From at least the 17th century, Dunton Green was a centre for making bricks and tiles. In 1862 the Dunton Green Brick, Tile and Pottery Works was established: a large concern with clayholes or pits, kilns and an engine house. Whilst digging for clay many fossils were discovered.
The village church (dedicated to St John) is built with local bricks.
An independent Free church remains active within the village having been established in 1873 - Dunton Green Free Church in Station Road
There is a sad tale associated with the small village of Dunton Green. It concerns the daughter of the owner of a large house called Morants Court who fell in love with a highwayman. Her father who disapproved of their friendship, forced his daughter to betray the villain's next ambush at the foot of the nearby Star Hill. The father's servants intercepted the highwayman and promptly hanged him, cut off his head and made a cruel present of it to the shocked daughter. She was so horrified by the gruesome spectacle that she went insane. The ghost of the headless lover has been seen jumping the stream behind Morants Court on his stallion. The sound of horse's hoofs upon cobbles - heard by people working in the fields at dusk - is immortalised in Walter De la Mare's poem 'The Highwayman'. The cobblestones have long since been removed
Interesting fact:Top dance act Orbital are originally from Dunton Green