Talk:Sevenoaks

Fort Halstead
Can't help thinking this should probably get a mention... but I'm not entirely sure where it would fit in as the article currently stands. In fact, an overhaul of the structure of the article in general may well be in order.  DJR  ( T ) 22:45, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Rewrite needed
I entirely disagree with the last remark, having done similar exercise with other places in Kent. Although every article about settlements carries the same information it would be well for the article here to be followed. This is one, like so many others, is a hotchpotch of information, with little structure. The canard about "London commuter belt" has been argued out in that article. It says nothing about the rest of the town's population who do not commute to London or anywhere else. It is a lazy way out: even if it were true, it needs a good reference to prove its veracity. Try looking through this article]. And the article itself tells us who the largest employer is!

The above guidance frowns upon lists as a way of writing such an article, yet even the history section does it here - with a negative statement as its first sentence ("was not mentioned ...") - what is the significance of that? Nothing about its governance (it's a town council, although the population section can't make up its mind about that); nor its geographical setting; the cross-country road (now the A25) isn't mentioned; and almost nothing about what the rest of the people of the town get up to (eg cultural/sporting activities). Why does Greatness have its own heading? Is it that important? There is a large External Links section, but little of what that means is included in the text of the article itself.

I should be very unhappy, were I a resident of Sevenoaks! Peter Shearan (talk) 05:49, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Automated Peer Review
The following suggestions were generated by a semi-automatic javascript program, and might not be applicable for the article in question. You may wish to browse through User:AndyZ/Suggestions for further ideas. Thanks. FM [ talk to me  |  show contributions  ]  16:22, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
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Rewrite
I am in the process of preparing a rewrite of this article. Before I commit it to being done, I have the following comments, so as to show why I have done it. I am using the Wiki suggested format for writing about places:
 * the lead article includes too much new information: it should just be a summary of what follows.
 * Apart from Riverhead, none of the places mentioned as being "part of a wider suburban area" fit that description, since all are physically separated from the main built-up area
 * the second para has three separate ideas: the name of the town; some slight ref (incomplete, since trees have been planted over hundreds of years, not just 1902) to the 7 oaks which is again repeated in "Modern 7oaks" para; and the lakes. None really connect
 * History section is pathetic; much more about the town's past is scattered throughout the article. Shouldn't be in the form of a list
 * Early schools? there's only one of them, and a unreferenced mention of seven others. The Sevenoaks School article ref is sufficient - it doesn't need much more, just a simple statement. And what about state schools? other schools? there are many. Even in a later reference they are just not mentioned
 * same comment applies to railways. There are perfectly good articles on the stations themselves, and the line on which they stand. doesn't need to have it all again here.
 * and again for Knole
 * Modern Sevenoaks: this section is entirely unreferenced, leading me to believe it is written without recourse to facts. The half para "However, the town is known locally for an abundace (spelling) of dead shops (no article) and vacant lots (?not an UK expression) ... to the north of the town center (ditto spelling)" is a good example; and what follows is even worse. How can we possibly know that "retail decline" is because of all those places and factors?
 * "Sevenoaks has a surprisingly low crime rate" (why should we be suprised? and the statement from the police is highly media -speak. As is "shocked the town"!
 * back to education! what statistic says that the no of prep schools is above average for the town's size? and who criticises about the lack of a non-indep grammar school?
 * there are far too many external links. Six of them are general websites - chat groups, forums etc - and do not add to the sum total of the article. If something in them is of general lasting importance, it should be properly referenced - as should all the others.

I hope to have the rewrite in place soon - it's been a long and frustrating job. No-one apparently has read it through to see whether it makes an article worth reading overall. Peter Shearan (talk) 18:47, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Un certo Harry Brent
a 1970 italian TV serie, Un certo Harry Brent (taken fron the Francis Durbridge novel) was filmed in Sevenoaks and this wasn't so common for that age, imho.93.33.1.50 (talk) 07:13, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Knole trees
Can the claim that Knole Park contains several million trees be substantiated? If the parkland is 1000 acres, as stated in the article, and there were only one million trees, then there would, on average, be a tree about every 2m. Anyone who has seen Knole would would wonder whether this is the case. Perhaps it was true once, or before the Great Storm of '87, but surely not now? JBel (talk) 11:22, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Satanists and French Prostitutes
Oh, my. Those references are enough for me: if not only satanists but also french prostitutes consider Sevenoaks to be the residence of Devil, I need no further proof. Besides, it's probably the most fascinating assertion I've found in the whole Wikipedia. I normally edit that kind of phrases without mercy, but, hey, let this one stand, I'd say. The article doesn't make a pause or even a blink before informing us that many actors and princess Diana lived there. Wonderful juxtaposition. Ciroa (talk) 10:09, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

The Town's Affluence
It should be mentioned that the town is well known as being highly affluent and expensive to reside in. Round where I live in West Kent, Sevenoaks is perceived as upper class and being very bourgeois. A recent article; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392680/Most-expensive-roads-Homes-Kensington-Palace-Gardens-street-cost-19-2MILLION.html shows that the town has the fifth highest number of "million pound streets" in the country. This should be pointed out in the article! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.29.90.134 (talk) 20:57, 31 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Fine, go ahead. As long as you add that source as a reference, there is no problem. Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:00, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

From Will Durant's "The Reformation" (vol. 6 of The Story of Civilization, p. 111): "The troops of Henry VI, and the retainers of certain nobles, met the rebel army at Sevenoaks (June 18, 1450). To the surprise of all, the rebels won, and poured into London." I assume that it's the same Sevenoaks; if so, it seems to deserve a mention in this article. Perhaps someone can supply the details. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.217.149.46 (talk) 16:09, 26 October 2013 (UTC)

Geographic location
So why was this so wrong as it was, exactly? Martinevans123 (talk) 17:37, 22 December 2013 (UTC)

Economy: Rotosound
The Rotosound company of Sevenoaks makes strings for instruments, and is well known through the world, esp. for their guitar strings, which formed the famous british sound in the 60s and 70s. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.255.182.77 (talk) 22:03, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

Population
I just copied the population with reference from the infox to the lead sentence. I noticed there are 3 different population amounts mentioned in the article, all referenced, one in the infox and lead, and two in the demographics sections. One states it is population for the parish, which makes sense. Another one says built up area of the town at nearly 25,000 then the other says 29,500 with no description. Both have a difference reference, but perhaps it could be explained what exactly they are the population of, they are different by 4,500 people, a little confusing.  Carl wev   21:03, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081223051658/http://www.sevenoakstown.gov.uk/Welcome.asp to http://www.sevenoakstown.gov.uk/Welcome.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081211191307/http://www.sevenoakstown.gov.uk/Councillors.asp to http://www.sevenoakstown.gov.uk/Councillors.asp

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Etymology
The last paragraph of the Etymology section reads: In a book by K. Baedeker entitled, "Great Britain: England, Wales, and Scotland as Far as Loch Maree and the Cromarty Firth" (published in 1887) it is stated that Sevenoaks "is said to be a corruption of Chevenix". This seems to be a rather trivial - and unsubstantiated - etymology. Moreover, googling Chevenix appears to raise nothing more than a few homonymous names of people. I propose that it is either deleted, or put as a footnote at the end of the first paragraph. Nick Michael (talk) 19:34, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Fun Fact
A study showed Sevenoaks to be one of the top ten happiest places to live in England — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.30.9.159 (talk) 17:08, 11 December 2019 (UTC)

History section
The history section is very confusing. It jumps back and forth since it is divided by topic, and most topics overlap by time period. --Danielklein (talk) 09:33, 22 January 2020 (UTC)