My first outdoorsy video of 2025. It was a dull, damp, cold day, but an enjoyable short hike. In this video, I have detailed my route as best I could. I have added a detailed description of my route below.
Route Details:
Distance 3.9 Kilometres 2 ½ Miles. Approximate time for easy walking 2 hours
Introduction
Haysden Country Park is managed and maintained by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council. Local community volunteers help to support the park through organised activities such as coppicing, tree planting, and other conservation tasks. The Park is home to a wide variety of wildlife and is designated a Local Nature Reserve and an accredited Country Park under the Natural England scheme. This park was opened as a Country Park in 1988, but the land had been partly owned by the council and used by the public long before this time. The trail is mainly flat and on surfaced paths but can become muddy in bad weather.
Point 1 - Starting from the main car park notice board, walk towards the far end of the car park and cross over the wooden bridge leading towards “The Shallows”.
Point 2 - The Shallows
This was the old course of the River Medway now known as The Shallows. The natural bends called meanders were sometimes shallow and therefore difficult to navigate with large boats, this was significant as roads were poor and before the railway was built, rivers and canals were used as the main transport links. Since the majority of the river water now flows another way, The Shallows has become a quiet backwater which is gradually developing into marshland.
Point 3 - The Railway Line
The path we have been following runs alongside the railway line that was constructed by the South Eastern Railway Company. The railway was opened in 1842 as the mainline between London and Dover and is still in operation today as a passenger and freight line. When crossing over the humped-back bridge at the far end of The Shallows, look for the brick-built Victorian arched railway bridge that can be seen to your right. Continue on over the bridge, turn left and follow the trail through the barrier and over the next bridge. Stop at the far end of the bridge (Point 4).
Point 4 - The Straight Mile
The Straight Mile is an early attempt to straighten the River Medway, making it suitable for boat navigation. This was a money-making enterprise to take barges of valuable timber from Penshurst to Tonbridge and beyond, but unfortunately, the canals never filled with water, the enterprise was a failure and James Christie who was the project engineer fled to America. Imagine, how much money and effort would it have taken to dig these canals back in the 1830s? 100 workers dug the canal. One of the Canals eventually became a bridleway which is still in use today. Now retrace your steps across the bridge, then follow the narrow path under the railway bridge.
Point 5 - Heusenstamm Friendship Wood
The wood will be on your left once you go through the entrance. Take the unmade path on your right and follow along the river bank. You can see the Leigh Barrier from the end of Heusenstamm Friendship Wood. This wood is located on part of the in filled river where the old Weir once stood – a massive construction of brick and wooden sluices that controlled the water levels. The Weir Pool (also known as ‘Tonbridge Lido’) was once a popular location for swimming, fishing and boating but was near to collapse and had to be demolished when the Leigh Flood Barrier was built in 1981. Following the Great Storm of 1987, this new woodland was planted with trees donated by Tonbridge’s twin town of Heusenstamm in Germany.
Point 6 - Leigh Barrier
Standing by the stile at the far end of the woodland, you can see the Leigh Flood Barrier . The Leigh Flood Barrier was completed in 1981, ad was built to protect Tonbridge from the threat of flooding. Three gates automatically control the flow of the water in the river. Each weighs 11 tonnes and can pass up to 150 cubic metres of floodwater every second. The storage area behind the Leigh Barrier is 278 hectares and when the land is flooded it can hold 5,580 million litres of water. Before the barrier was constructed Tonbridge would regularly flood, the last serious floods being in 1968.
Point 7 - New cut (river)
The New Cut that joins with the Long Reach was constructed to bypass The Shallows. These river
channels now take the majority of the river water from the Leigh Flood Barrier gates downstream towards Tonbridge.
Point 8 - Stone Lock
The Stone Lock is at the far end of the Straight Mile and was built in about 1829 again by the engineer James Christie. The Lock was built to lift the barges of timber up to the level of the river from the Straight Mile canals. It is constructed from huge blocks of stone, which are reputed to have come from Tonbridge Castle.
Point 9 - Lucifer Bridge
This bridge is one of the few crossing points on the river. The bridge is constructed in a steel lattice pattern with wooden deck which has created an attractive piece of engineering.
Cross the bridge (beware of cyclists), turn right down the footpath, and a few hundred metres along the path you will find a pillbox on your left.
Point 10 - Pillbox
A World War 2 pillbox can be found in the hedgerow along the riverbank. During World War 2 pillboxes were built along many major routes in England, such as the rivers, as lines of defences to repel an expected invasion. This pill box and others along the river Medway formed part of the Ironside Line, the premier line of defence against a German invasion.
Point 11 - Barden Lake
This lake was formed when sand and gravel were extracted from the land between 1974 and 1980. Dragline excavators were used to dig the material out. The Lake is approximately 3.6 metres deep. From here gravel and sand was transported by road ½ mile west to Haysden Water Lake where machinery washed and finished the product.
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