Bexleyheath
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-->Bexleyheath, formerly known as "Bexley New Town", part of the London Borough of Bexley, consists of a suburban development located 12 miles (19.3 km) east-south-east of Charing Cross.
The modern town area of today features a bingo-hall, cinema, hotel, magistrates' court, reference library, six-a-side football centre and ten-pin bowling alley (Megabowl) among the more usual retail outlets. Four bus routes link the town to a railway station on the line between Blackheath and Dartford. Some facilities at the eastern end of the town centre, however, lie closer to Barnehurst railway station, also connected by scheduled buses. A substantial section of Broadway has become pedestrianised to upgrade conditions for shoppers and to respond to the competition from the Bluewater shopping centre in nearby Dartford.
As recently as 200 years ago, Bexley Heath comprised an area of scrub land with few buildings (Bexley Heath windmill stood at the corner of Erith Road and Mayplace Road). The heath bordered Watling Street, the ancient Roman road between London and Canterbury. In 1766 Sir John Boyd had Danson House built in parkland (now Danson Park between Bexleyheath and Welling.
In 1814 the land to the north of Bexley that was to become Bexleyheath became subject to an Inclosure Act. In 1859 architect Philip Webb designed a house, Red House, for the artist, reforming designer and socialist William Morris on the western edge of the heath, in the hamlet of Upton, before it became largely developed as a London suburb. Red House forms an early essay in a romantically-massed, non-historical, brick-and-tile domestic vernacular style; it has diverse windows and an extravagant stairway. The National Trust acquired the house in 2003. Bexleyheath's parish church, Christ Church, dates from 1841 and the parish of Bexleyheath from 1866. (The building of the current church took place in 1877).
Alfred Bean, railway engineer and one-time owner of Danson House, furthered the development of Bexleyheath as a London suburb by championing the Bexleyheath Line in the 1880s to support the growth of the estates around Danson Park. The clock tower at the centre of the modern shopping area, built in 1912, commemorates the coronation of King George V.
The singer-songwriter Kate Bush was born here. Famous ex-pupils of Bexleyheath School include the TV chef Delia Smith and ex-professional footballer Andy Townsend.
External links
Nearest places
Nearest railway stations
- Albany Park railway station
- Barnehurst railway station
- Bexley railway station
- Bexleyheath railway station
- Welling railway station
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