Clacket Lane services is a

motorway service station Motorway service areas (MSA) also known as services or service stations, are rest areas in the UK and Ireland where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop, use the toilet or stay in an on-site overnight hotel ...

on the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major ring road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 th ...

midway between junctions 5 and 6, in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, United Kingdom, adjacent to the parish borders between

Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25 road, A25.Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and

Westerham Westerham is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey. I ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, a small village and a town respectively. It is the largest Roadchef services in the UK, and one of the largest and busiest on the UK motorway network serving traffic on the extremely busy southern stretch of the M25 London orbital motorway, and traffic to and from the coastal ports and the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...

. It is named after a road which passes over the motorway nearby.

History

Service stations at the site were first proposed in 1972. During planning, the services were intended to be named Titsey Wood after the forest that surrounds the site. The site would be 40 acres, with parking for 770 cars, 30 coaches and 150 trucks. There would be two self service restaurants with 400 seats each. It was anticipated to sell 12 million gallons of fuel in 1994. The site could store 1.6 million litres of fuel, with 160 pumps. The architects were Dancey and Meredith. Structural engineering was by the Ernest Green Partnership. The £13.2m contract was awarded to Moss Construction of Cheltenham, who built it in 15 months, and by Wallis Ltd of Bromley. The landscape architect was Travers Morgan. Building started in May 1992. 45 year old Peter Whitlock, a former Asda store manager, from

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, would be the general manager. Fuel services were opened on Monday 17 May 1993, by Patricia Banks, chairman of

Tandridge District Tandridge is a local government district in east Surrey, England. Its council is based in Oxted, although the largest settlement is Caterham; other notable settlements include Warlingham, Godstone and Lingfield. In mid-2019, the district had a ...

Council. The catering services were opened by Robert Key, Minister for Roads and Traffic on 21 July 1993. During construction of the sites, artifacts from

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

were found, specifically from a disused

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

and are now displayed at the service station.

Structure

Most of the site is in Tatsfield, and part of the western site is in Titsey. Staff entrances to the services are on Clacket Lane itself

References

External links

*
Archaeological site report
{{Transport in Surrey Buildings and structures in Surrey Economy of Surrey M25 motorway service stations RoadChef motorway service stations Tandridge Transport in Surrey