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Scadbury Park is aLocal Nature Reserve[1][2] inChislehurst in theLondon Borough of Bromley. It is also aSite of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.[3] It is over 300 acres (120 ha), and is part of an extensivewildlife corridor together with Petts Wood and theJubilee Country Park.[4]
It has large areas ofancient woodland, especially oaks, and flowers includelily of the valley, which is rare in London. Ponds have London's largest population of protectedgreat crested newts. Much of it is undisturbed grassland,[3] and it also includes a working farm.[5]
The main entrance is in Old Perry Street. The entrance piers still exist.[6] Also a West Lodge to the estate still exists, also on Old Perry Street.[7]TheLondon Loop passes through it from Sidcup By-Pass Road near its junction with Perry Street to St Paul's Cray Road.
Themanor is first recorded in the thirteenth century, when it was held by thede Scathebury family.[8] In 1424 it was purchased byThomas Walsingham, a wealthy wine and cloth merchant in theCity of London who served as aMember of Parliament in 1410 and 1413.[9] The manor was the seat of his descendants until about 1655. These includedChristopher Marlowe's patron,Sir Thomas Walsingham; in fact Marlowe is known to have been staying at Scadbury Manor just before his violent death in 1593.Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster,Francis Walsingham, was born there.
In 1736Col. John Selwyn purchased the property and owned it until 1742 when he passed it on toThomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, after whom the city ofSydney, Australia was named. The manor was purchased by the London Borough of Bromley in 1983 and opened to the public in 1985.[8]
