| Orpington | |
  Orpington shown within Greater London |
|
| Population | 15,078 (ward, 2001 census)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| London borough | Bromley |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | London |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ORPINGTON |
| Postcode district | BR5, BR6 |
| Dialling code | 01689 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| European Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | Orpington |
| London Assembly | Bexley and Bromley |
| List of places: UK • England • London | |
Orpington is a suburban town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms the southeastern edge of London's urban sprawl and is one of thirty five major centres identified in the London Plan.[2]
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The High Street and adjacent Walnuts Shopping Centre contain a wide selection of high-street shops. There is a general market located in front of Orpington College, three days a week. Planning permission was granted in 2005 to demolish a multistorey car park at the south end of the High Street, and replace it with a large Tesco supermarket. Work started at the beginning of February 2007 and since then the car park has been fully demolished and work on the foundations has started reusing the concrete from the demolished car park. The new Tesco is due to open in 2009/2010. Metered parking has been installed at various street locations around Orpington station to cope with the loss of the car park This has resulted in the exit of long-established local businesses as the office space they occupied will no longer be feasible without adequate parking. There are larger retail outlets in the industrial estate on Cray Avenue and Sevenoaks Way in St Mary Cray including the new Nugent Shopping Park.
 Orpington Town Sign |
 Orpington High Street, looking south |
The Walnuts Leisure Centre [1], just east of the High Street, has a six-lane, 33.3 metre indoor swimming pool. It is home to Orpington Ojays Swimming Club [2], which competes at county, district and national level. Other facilities include squash courts and gym with sauna and steam room as well as a sports hall used for activities such as badminton, basketball, trampolining and fitness classes. The Sports hall is also used for Women's Artistic Gymnastics, being the training venue for Orpington Gymnastic Club [3].
There are two other local leisure centres: one at the Priory School [4], which has a floodlit, synthetic pitch for hockey and football, three outdoor tennis courts, two netball courts, four outdoor cricket nets and a sports hall with gymnasium/fitness suite and dance studio. The other is LA Fitness members-only health club on Sandy Lane [5] . There is also Keddles Gym [6] and Jack Watson's martial arts club [7].
There are rugby, football and cricket pitches in Goddington Park. Westcombe Park RFC [8], Orpington Cricket Club [9] and Orpington Football Club [10] are based here. Westcombe Park RFC is one of Kent's premier clubs, competing in National Division Two (only two leagues away from premiership rugby). 'Combe' moved from the Blackheath area to Orpington in 1936. Cray Wanderers F.C., established in 1860 no longer plays in Orpington, but now shares a ground with Bromley F.C..
Since 1985, members of Orpington Road Runners [11] have met every Tuesday near The Buff Pub and on Sundays at High Elms Country Park. For over 10 years, the Club has organised a 10k race and series of 2k fun runs [12] during the summer in conjunction with Darrick Wood School. Bromley Indoor Bowls Club is situated off Gillmans Road. Lawn bowls is played at the Excelsior Club [13] in Poverest Recreation Ground. Knoll Lawn Tennis Club [14] has (despite its name) five tarmac courts tucked away among the houses of Mayfield Avenue. Bromley Tennis Centre (six indoor courts and four floodlit outdoor courts) is in the grounds of Newstead Wood School for Girls.
Set back from the High Street and near to the historic parish church, Orpington has a large and well-used public library [15], set in attractive grounds: Priory Gardens. The Priory itself contains Bromley Museum [16].
Stone Age tools have been found in several areas of Orpington, including Goddington Park, Priory Gardens, the Ramsden estate, and Poverest. Early Bronze Age pottery fragments have been found in the Park Avenue area. During the building of Ramsden Boys School in 1956, the remains of an Iron Age farmstead were excavated. The area was occupied in Roman times, as shown by Crofton Roman Villa, and the Roman bath-house at Fordcroft [17]. The first record of the name Orpington occurs in 1032, when King Cnut's treasurer Eadsy gave land at "Orpedingetune" to the Monastery of Christ Church at Canterbury. The parish church also pre-dates the Domesday Book.
Until the railway came, the local commercial centre was nearby St Mary Cray, rather than Orpington. St Mary Cray had a regular market, and industry (paper mills and bell foundry), whereas Orpington was just a small country village surrounded by soft fruit farms, hopfields and orchards.
These crops attracted Romani people, working as itinerant pickers, to annual camps in local meadows and worked-out chalk pits. This work has largely ended, but the Borough still provides a permanent site at Star Lane, and the gatherings are commemorated in local street names, such as Romany Rise. In 1967, Eric Lubbock, then Liberal MP for Orpington promoted a private member's bill to provide permanent Gypsy sites; this resulted in the Caravan Sites Act 1968 that placed an obligation upon local authorities to provide sites for locally residing travellers.[3] In 1971, an international meeting of Romany people was held at Orpington, this Orpington Congress marked the founding of the International Romani Union, a group seeking political representation for Romanis throughout Europe[4].
The Conservative member for Orpington had resigned to become a judge, and a by-election was held on 15 March 1962, the symbolism of the date being noted as the Ides of March. Eric Lubbock, the Liberal candidate beat the Conservative into second place. It is from this win that the revival of the Liberal Party is usually dated.
Orpington (along with Erith) was a major site for the Romani people [18], who were attracted by Kent's many hop and fruit farms. Stopping areas (or 'Atchin Tan') included Corkes Meadow [19] and Corkes Pit [20](near the site of the Sevenoaks Road gasworks in St Mary Cray), as well as Ruxley Pit, at the top of Chalk Pit Avenue. Romany families stopped at Corkes Pit from all over the UK until the 1960s, when the hop farms started to use machinery or labour from abroad.
The council still had to provide permanent stopping areas, which is why Star Lane remains one of the largest Romany sites in the UK. As seasonal farm work dried up the men started to look for local labouring work and many families settled near the old Corkes Pit on Leeson's Hill.
Famous Romanies from Orpington include Gypsy Rose Lee (not to be confused with the American entertainer), [21] [Gilderoy Scamp] [22][23][24], Jonny Love, Private Walter Pateman [25] and Henry Jackson who was from the fighter stock of Jacksons.,[5]
Orpington is known for the "Buff", "Black" and "Speckled" chickens bred locally by William Cook in the 1890s. The Buff Orpington can still be seen at Tripes Farm, Chelsfield Lane.
The Orpington Car, built by Frank Smith & Jack Milroy at their works in Wellington Road, was shown at the 1920 Motor Show. It was a two-seater convertible, with a dickey seat, and a 10 horsepower (7 kW) engine. Although briefly successful, Smith and Milroy could not compete with mass production, and the last car was built in 1925. Unfortunately, there are no surviving examples.
The Parish Church, "All Saints", stands upon pre-Norman foundations. Mentioned in the Domesday Book, it is Early English in style, but some Saxon work is visible. It was endowed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1173. The tower and steeple were damaged by a storm in 1771. The rebuilt steeple was struck by lightning in 1809, and it was not replaced. The church was greatly enlarged in 1957. The present Vicar is the Reverend Alan Mustoe.
The Priory is a fine example of a medieval 'hall house'. In 1032, Eadsy, chaplain to King Cnut, gave his estate at Orpedingetune to Christ Church Priory, Canterbury. The first Rector of Orpington, Hugh de Mortimer, held court here in 1270. The house was rebuilt, this time of stone, in 1290, and added to in 1393 and 1471. In the 17th century the house ceased to be a rectory and passed into private ownership - a timber-framed extension was added, which no longer exists. The house was acquired by Orpington Urban District Council in 1947, and now it houses a museum and a public library. The garden forms an attractive public park, and contains a natural pond which is the source of the River Cray. Each year the Orpington May Queen is crowned in the gardens.
During the First World War a large military hospital, the "16th Canadian General", was built south-east of the station, funded by the government of Ontario, Canada. It originally accommodated 1,050 patients; an extra wing was added in 1917. By January 1919, more than 15,000 wounded soldiers had been treated here. Many of the 182 who died are buried in "Canadian Corner" of All Saints' churchyard. Most of the original pre-fabricated buildings remained in use for more than 80 years before a major renovation around the turn of the century. Today Orpington Hospital provides rehabilitation and therapy services, outpatient and diagnostic services (including dermatology and diabetes), but it no longer has an Accident and Emergency Unit. The nearest A&E is Queen Mary's, Sidcup, or Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough.
Education in Orpington is managed by the London Borough of Bromley which is the Local Education Authority. The town contains a full range of primary and secondary schools.
Orpington College is a further education college. It is affiliated with the University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church University. Orpington College is the tallest building in Orpington, and was built in 1972.
Orpington railway station is a transport hub served by Southeastern trains to Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Waterloo East, London Bridge and Victoria stations.
Orpington is also a major hub on the London Bus network and is served by routes to Sidcup, Chislehurst, Bromley, Lewisham, Addington, Chelsfield, Green Street Green, Farnborough, Cudham, Downe, Knockholt, Halstead, and Biggin Hill.
Because of the developed transport system, Orpington is a popular commuter base. Rail lines from Orpington offer connections to the Eurostar station at Ashford International. There are also connections to London City (via Lewisham DLR station), London Biggin Hill and London Gatwick (via Victoria station) airports.
Photographs of around town:
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