A fascinating folding map of Kent and East Sussex detailing the region's hops production by listing the number of acres of hops under cultivation in each parish. Completed railways are marked in red, while planned or proposed railways are in blue.

This map was compiled for the London & Dover (South Eastern) Railway Company who were responsible for the development of these railway lines. It is likely that this map was intended to inform the locations of future railway lines, both to carry seasonal hop pickers from London to the fields of Kent and Sussex and to bring the dried hops to Britain's breweries. By the end of the 19th century, hop-picking had become a common summer pastime for London's urban labourers as it paid well and allowed the workers and their families to escape to the countryside for the summer. Multiple branch lines were built solely to bring hop pickers to the area's larger farms.

This map, published in the early days of railways, pre-dates the massive surge in popularity of hop-picking holidays during the late-Victorian and Edwardian eras, but it does suggest that the railway companies were already exploring the commercial possibilities of building lines specifically to support the hop picking industry as early as 1844.

Original colour. [SL]