Borough Green

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Borough Green
latitude= 51.291300
longitude= 0.306200
population =
shire_district= Tonbridge and Malling
shire_county = Kent
region= South East England
constituency_westminster= Tonbridge and Malling
post_town= SEVENOAKS
postcode_district = TN15
postcode_area= TN
dial_code= 01732 88
os_grid_reference= TQ605575

Borough Green is a large village and civil parish in the Tonbridge and Malling District of Kent, England. The main village is situated on the A25 road between Maidstone and Sevenoaks in Kent.

History

The village's name describes what it originally was - the green to which the people of what was then the borough of Wrotham went for recreation. There is also a view that "borough", which predates any borough council in the area, relates to barrow, possibly referring to the Roman remains near the station site.

Its location at a crossroads (the old route from Gravesend to Hastings crossed here) meant that inns were gradually opened:
* 1586 "Red Lion" ( now closed )
* 1592 "Black Bull", later the "Black Horse"
* 1753 "The Bull"
* 1837 "Fox & Hounds" (now private houses)
* 1860 "The Rock" (also now private houses)
* 1878 "The Railway Hotel" now known as "The Henry Simmonds"

Great Comp, an early 17th-century house, is located in the parish of St Mary's Platt, one mile to the east of the village. Its gardens, administered by a charitable trust, are open to the public.

The London, Chatham and Dover Railway opened its line to Maidstone on 1 June 1874, and a station named "Wrotham and Borough Green" was built. Later the names were reversed to Borough Green & Wrotham reflecting the fact that the station was in Borough Green, whereas Wrotham is some miles to the north. The reversal also reflected Borough Green's size, having now outgrown Wrotham.

The River Bourne flows through the southern part of the parish, and formerly powered a paper mill at Basted.

Businesses & Organisations

The following have UK headquarters in Borough Green:

*Geographer's A-Z Maps
*H+H Celcon
*OMF International
*ReachAcross (formerly Red Sea Mission Team)
*OTG (Formerly Otford Tool and Gauge).

Churches

There are three churches in Borough Green:

*Anglican (Church of England): The Church of the Good Shepherd, Quarry Hill Road
*Baptist (Association of Grace Baptist Churches): Borough Green Baptist Church, High Street
*Roman Catholic: St Joseph's, Western Road

chools

*Borough Green Primary School

References

"The Kent Village Book", Alan Bignell (Countryside Books, 1986)."Borough Green Primary School website", (Accessed 03/03.2008)"Borough Green Past and Present" Published 1994. In K.C.C. library

External links

* [http://www.boroughgreen.org/ Borough Green community website]
* [http://www.bgpschool.co.uk/index2.htm Borough Green Primary School website]
* [http://www.boroughgreenphotos.freeserve.co.uk History of Borough Green website]