The station opened as Guestling Halt on 1 July 1907 after the South Eastern and Chatham Railway had introduced a steam railcar service on the line in order to improve traffic.

It was one of the few places along the line between Hastings and Winchelsea that could access the railway by a public road.

[4] In 2011, a local newspaper observed that because of the inconvenient stops and lack of access, Doleham could be technically interpreted as the most crime-ridden station in Sussex as there was one reported crime for every 473 passengers.

[5] Owing to low patronage, the station is only served by a handful of trains each way, with no services at all during the off-peak period.

However, in the 2005 timetable change, trains on the line were extended to run to/from Brighton (via Eastbourne and Lewes) and operated as express services; as a result, service frequency at Doleham (as well as neighbouring Three Oaks and Winchelsea) was greatly reduced, to just 3 trains per day each way.