Sevenoaks grew from the backwoods and heaths, high above the Darent river valley. The early Saxon settlements of the Vale of Holmesdale-including Eynsford, Otford, Westerham, Kemsing, Chevening, Shoreham, Chipstead, Sundridge and Brasted-clung to the riverside, while Sevenoaks was little more than a wayside shrine in the forest track up the narrow ridge to the south. The shrine became the market place of the Archbishop of Canterbury's manor, and grew in importance. The town sprang to life in the 19th century with the railway and grew rapidly.