Bexleyheath

infobox UK place
country = England
map_type = Greater London
region= London
population=
official_name= Bexleyheath
latitude= 51.4589
longitude= 0.1384
os_grid_reference= TQ485755
london_borough= Bexley
post_town= BEXLEYHEATH
postcode_area=DA
postcode_district=DA6, DA7
dial_code= 020
constituency_westminster= Bexleyheath and Crayford

Bexleyheath, formerly known as "Bexley New Town", part of the London Borough of Bexley in South East London, consists of a suburban development located 12 miles (19.3 km) east-south-east of Charing Cross.

Shopping and leisure

The modern town area of today features a bingo-hall, Cineworld cinema hotel, magistrates' court, reference library, six-a-side football centre and ten-pin bowling alley (Ten Pin) among the more usual retail outlets provided to upgrade conditions for shoppers and to respond to the competition from the Bluewater Shopping Centre in nearby Greenhithe, Kent.

Regeneration work in 2007-08 on the Mall shopping centre increased its size slightly and gave the centre a more modern look.

History

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 would become Bexleyheath became subject to an Enclosure Act. In 1859 architect Philip Webb designed Red House for the artist, reforming designer and socialist William Morris on the western edge of the heath, in the hamlet of Upton — before Upton 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 finished 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.

In the late 1970s the London Borough of Bexley built its headquarters, the Civic Offices, in Bexleyheath.

Notable residents

* Baroness Amos attended Townley Grammar School for Girls, Townley Road, Bexleyheath, where she became the first black deputy-Head Girl (Head Girl: Lesley Hodgkiss).
* Steve Backley, javelin-champion, attended Hurst Primary School and then Beths Grammar School
* Paul Beresford, Attended Graham Road School 1955-1960 Went to Australia '63 established restaurant business lives on rural property outside Hobart Tasmania called "Danson Park"
* Jimmy Bullard, Premiership football player, currently at Fulham FC, attended Erith School
* Kate Bush, the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter was born in Bexleyheath
* Bernie Ecclestone attended Bexleyheath School
* Graham Kersey, Surrey county cricketer, also attended Beths Grammar School
* Roger Moore previously lived in Bexleyheath, in Danson Road
* Liam Ridgewell, Birmingham City F.C. footballer, born and raised in Bexleyheath
* Delia Smith, television-chef, attended Bexleyheath School
* Linda Smith, stand-up comic and star of Radio 4 and BBC2, attended Bexleyheath School
* Andy Townsend, professional footballer, attended Bexleyheath School
* Wolfgang Unkletunk, James Bond villan from Dr No

Places of worship

* Bethany Hall, Chapel Road, Bexleyheath
* [http://www.bexleyheathcommunitychurch.co.uk Bexleyheath Community Church] , Lyndhurst Chapel, Lyndhurst Road, Barnehurst, DA7 6DL
* Bexleyheath United Reformed Church, Geddes Place
* Christ Church (Church of England), Broadway
* Bexleyheath Methodist Church, Broadway
* Trinity Baptist Church, Broadway
* St John Vianney Roman Catholic Church, Heathfield Road
* St Peters (Church of England), Pickford Lane
* St Thomas More Roman Catholic Church, Long Lane
* The Salvation Army, Lion Road
* Bexley Christian Life Centre (Pentecostal), Rowan Road
* Pantiles Methodist Church, Hurlingham Road
* Grace Baptist Church, Albion Road

Transport and locale

Nearest places

* Barnehurst
* Bexley
* Crayford
* Belvedere
* Erith
* Northumberland Heath
* Sidcup
* Welling

Buses

*89 - Lewisham Station and Slade Green Station
*96 - Woolwich Shopping Centre and Bluewater Shopping Centre
*132 - Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and Eltham Station
*229 - Thamesmead Town Centre and Sidcup Queen Mary's Hospital
*269 - Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and Bromley North Station
*401 - Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and Thamesmead Town Centre
*422 - Bexleyheath Bus Garage and North Greenwich Station
*469 - Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and Woolwich Common Queen Elizabeth Hospital
*486 - Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and North Greenwich Station
*492 - Sidcup Station and Bluewater Shopping Centre
*B11 - Bexleyheath Bus Garage and Thamesmead Town Centre
*B12 - Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and Erith Town Centre
*B13 - Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and New Eltham Station
*B14 - Bexleyheath Shopping Centre and Orpington Station
*B15 - Joydens Wood and Eltham Station
*B16 - Bexleyheath Bus Garage and Kidbrooke Station
*N89 - Erith Town Centre and Trafalgar Square

Rail

Two railway stations serve Bexleyheath: Bexleyheath Station and Barnehurst Station, both located on the Bexleyheath line. Trains go to London Charing Cross or London Victoria to the west, and to Dartford to the east. Some trains in peak hours go to Slade Green Station.

Nearest railway-stations

* Albany Park railway station
* Barnehurst railway station
* Bexley railway station
* Bexleyheath railway station
* Welling railway station

External links

* [http://www.bexleyheath.towntalk.co.uk. Bexleyheath website]
* [http://www.bexleyheath.bexley.sch.uk Bexleyheath School]
* [http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/The_Red_House.html Red House - details]
* [http://www.rebs.demon.co.uk/ Red House - Bexley]
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/welling.website Welling]
* [http://www.bexleylife.co.uk Bexley Christian Life Centre Website]