Footpath, Knoll Recreation Ground, Hove

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 5 Jan 2017

Heading south east to join another that links Old Shoreham Road to Rowan Avenue that runs through the northern part of Hove Cemetery. The footpath here follows the trackbed of the former Dyke Railway that was opened in 1887 as an excursion route for tourists wishing to visit Devil's Dyke. The branch left the main west coast line at Aldrington (Originally known as Dyke Junction Halt) curving to the north, then west, then north again as it crossed open downland to a terminus situated next to Dyke Farm that was half a mile from the Dyke and required a walk up a steep gradient that was 200 foot below the summit. Two intermediate halts were added, the first in 1891 to serve Brighton & Hove Golf Club, called Golf Club Halt, and the other in 1933 to serve the newly built estates to the north which was called Rowan Halt. By then, however, the line was fast losing money to the motorbus trade which was able to drop visitors off right next to the Dyke and the line was closed on New Year's Eve 1938. The branch's alignment can be made out clearly north of the bypass but has largely been filled in to the south.

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