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Orpington
Orpington is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross.
On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary Cray, southwest of Swanley, west of Ramsden, north of Goddington and Green Street Green, and east of Crofton and Broom Hill. Orpington is covered by the London BR postcode area.
It is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
Stone Age tools have been found in several areas of Orpington, including Goddington Park, Priory Gardens, the Ramsden estate, and Poverest.[citation needed] Early Bronze Age pottery fragments have been found in the Park Avenue area.[citation needed] During the building of Ramsden Boys School in 1956, the remains of an Iron Age farmstead were excavated.[citation needed] The area was occupied in Roman times, as shown by Crofton Roman Villa and the Roman bath-house at Fordcroft. During the Anglo-Saxon period, Fordcroft Anglo-Saxon cemetery was used in the area.
The first record of the name Orpington occurs in 1038, when King Cnut's treasurer Eadsy gave land at "Orpedingetune" to the Monastery of Christ Church at Canterbury.[citation needed] The name means 'Orped's farmstead', Orped being an Anglo-Saxon first-name. The Church of All Saints was also built in the Anglo-Saxon period. On 22 July 1573, Queen Elizabeth I was entertained at Bark Hart (Orpington Priory) and her horses stabled at the Anchor and Hope Inn on the High Street[citation needed].
Historically, the major 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). In contrast, Orpington was a small country village surrounded by soft fruit farms, hop fields and orchards. These crops attracted Romani people, working as itinerant pickers, to annual camps in local meadows and worked-out chalk pits. Although this work has largely ended, the Borough still provides a permanent site for travellers at Star Lane, and historic 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 Romani sites; this resulted in the Caravan Sites Act 1968 that placed an obligation upon local authorities to provide sites for locally residing travellers. 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.
Orpington railway station opened in 1868 to the southwest of the town centre, prompting housing development in the Crofton and Broom Hill areas, with the Derry Downs areas to the east also developed at about the same time. The station was expanded in 1904, prompting a wave of house building that peaked in the 1920-30s, transforming the area into a suburb of London. The Walnuts Shopping Centre was built in the early 1970s.
Orpington has been part of the London Borough of Bromley since 1 April 1965. Prior to this Orpington's local government was the Orpington Urban District within the county of Kent. Orpington forms part of the Orpington (UK Parliament constituency) and the current MP is Gareth Bacon, who has held the seat since 2019 for the Conservative Party. Orpington constituency, which covers a large swathe of southern Bromley borough, is regarded as a Conservative safe seat, with the party winning the seat in every general election held since 1970. Gareth Bacon is also the London Assembly member for the Bexley and Bromley constituency in which Orpington is located.
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Orpington
Orpington is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross.
On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary Cray, southwest of Swanley, west of Ramsden, north of Goddington and Green Street Green, and east of Crofton and Broom Hill. Orpington is covered by the London BR postcode area.
It is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
Stone Age tools have been found in several areas of Orpington, including Goddington Park, Priory Gardens, the Ramsden estate, and Poverest.[citation needed] Early Bronze Age pottery fragments have been found in the Park Avenue area.[citation needed] During the building of Ramsden Boys School in 1956, the remains of an Iron Age farmstead were excavated.[citation needed] The area was occupied in Roman times, as shown by Crofton Roman Villa and the Roman bath-house at Fordcroft. During the Anglo-Saxon period, Fordcroft Anglo-Saxon cemetery was used in the area.
The first record of the name Orpington occurs in 1038, when King Cnut's treasurer Eadsy gave land at "Orpedingetune" to the Monastery of Christ Church at Canterbury.[citation needed] The name means 'Orped's farmstead', Orped being an Anglo-Saxon first-name. The Church of All Saints was also built in the Anglo-Saxon period. On 22 July 1573, Queen Elizabeth I was entertained at Bark Hart (Orpington Priory) and her horses stabled at the Anchor and Hope Inn on the High Street[citation needed].
Historically, the major 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). In contrast, Orpington was a small country village surrounded by soft fruit farms, hop fields and orchards. These crops attracted Romani people, working as itinerant pickers, to annual camps in local meadows and worked-out chalk pits. Although this work has largely ended, the Borough still provides a permanent site for travellers at Star Lane, and historic 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 Romani sites; this resulted in the Caravan Sites Act 1968 that placed an obligation upon local authorities to provide sites for locally residing travellers. 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.
Orpington railway station opened in 1868 to the southwest of the town centre, prompting housing development in the Crofton and Broom Hill areas, with the Derry Downs areas to the east also developed at about the same time. The station was expanded in 1904, prompting a wave of house building that peaked in the 1920-30s, transforming the area into a suburb of London. The Walnuts Shopping Centre was built in the early 1970s.
Orpington has been part of the London Borough of Bromley since 1 April 1965. Prior to this Orpington's local government was the Orpington Urban District within the county of Kent. Orpington forms part of the Orpington (UK Parliament constituency) and the current MP is Gareth Bacon, who has held the seat since 2019 for the Conservative Party. Orpington constituency, which covers a large swathe of southern Bromley borough, is regarded as a Conservative safe seat, with the party winning the seat in every general election held since 1970. Gareth Bacon is also the London Assembly member for the Bexley and Bromley constituency in which Orpington is located.
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