Foots Cray is an area of South EastLondon, England, within theLondon Borough of Bexley. Prior to 1965 it was in thehistoric county ofKent. It is located south-east ofSidcup, north ofOrpington and north west ofSwanley.
It took its name from Godwin Fot, a localSaxon landowner recorded in theDomesday Book of 1086, and from theRiver Cray that passes through the village.[citation needed] It lay on the oldMaidstone Road (now bypassed by theA20 road) leading from London to north Kent. Until the 20th century, Foots Cray dominated the nearby, less ancient hill-top hamlet of Sidcup. The combined area was designated as the Urban District of Foots Cray in 1902.[citation needed] Soon, however, the two settlements' fortunes were reversed, as Foots Cray's traditional industries declined after the First World War, and Sidcup grew rapidly as acommuter town after a railway was built linking it to central London. In 1921 this change was reflected in the renaming of Foots Cray Urban District to Sidcup Urban District.[citation needed] In 1965 both areas became part of the London Borough of Bexley.
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William Walsingham (died 1534), of Foots Cray, second son of James Walsingham,lord of theManor of Scadbury inChislehurst, Kent, was the father ofSir Francis Walsingham (c.1532-1590), Principal Secretary toQueen Elizabeth I, popularly remembered as her "spymaster".[citation needed]
The estate ofFoots Cray Place was rebuilt about 1754 forBourchier Cleeve, on the site of the manor, as aPalladian mansion that was attributed toIsaac Ware; it was illustrated in this form inVitruvius Britannicus iv (1777, pls. 8-10).[1] Foots Cray Place was remodelled for Benjamin Harenc (1792) by the minor London architectHenry Hakewill,[2] who further remodelled it in 1823 forNicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley, who wasChancellor of the Exchequer. Further works were carried out for Lord Bexley by another London architect of equally modest reputation, John William Hiort, who also built Bexley's London house in Great George Street, Westminster.[3] After a fire in 1949, it was demolished in 1950.[4] Now only the stable block remains, but the grounds, known asFoots Cray Meadows, provide a valuable public green space in this south-easternsuburb of London. This 89-hectare park was formed in the early 19th century from two mid-18th-century landscaped parks. It is listed byEnglish Heritage as a Grade II historic park[5] and is aLocal Nature Reserve.[6] The"London LOOP" walk passes through Foots Cray Meadows on its way fromOld Bexley to Sidcup Place andPetts Wood. There is some industry in an area next to the meadows and bordering the river.
The naval wireless engineer and short-story writerF. G. Loring died at the Old House, Foot's Cray on 7 September 1951, aged eighty-two.[7]
Foots Cray stable block and adjacent walled garden were placed on theEnglish Heritage 'at risk' register but have now been rescued following redevelopment to form a luxury home that was for sale in 2008 at £3.5 million.[citation needed]
The town gave its name toFootscray, a major suburb in the inner west of the metropolitan area ofMelbourne, Australia.[8]
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Foots Cray bordersNorth Cray to the north and north east,Ruxley to the east and south east,St Paul's Cray to the south and south west andSidcup to the west and north west.
Just to the north of the main crossroads, All Saints Church, Foots Cray, is situated in Rectory Lane on the edge ofFoots Cray Meadows near theRiver Cray. The church was built in the 1330s but is believed to stand on the site of an earlier (possibly Saxon) church evidenced by the late 12th century Norman font. The church includes a mid 14th century effigy, two 14th century windows on the south side of the nave and in the chapel, and a brass plate recording the death of Thomas Myton, Rector of Foots Cray, in 1489. The west door-case and porch date from about 1500. In 1638 the church owned eight acres of land which included an orchard, garden and cowyard, a dwelling house, hovel, barn and stable.[9][10]
In 1863 extensive alterations took place, including the removal of the old box pews, with the church being substantially rebuilt. The nave was extended westwards with the bell tower at the west end of the church left standing on four oak posts so that the bells are now rung from the centre of the aisle. During the enlargement and remodelling of the chancel, the remains of twenty burials were found, as was a brass plate engraved with the date 1440 which still had a bunch of lavender placed underneath it. The stained glass windows date from the second half of the 19th century as do the three bells, although the bells were recast in 1987. In 1995-97 major roof repairs took place to the nave, chancel, chapel and vestry at a cost of nearly £70,000.[11]
The original parish registers dating back to 1559 were stolen in 1948 when vandals broke into the church and threw the church records into theRiver Cray, but copies of the register from 1559 to 1832 had been made.[11]
The original churchyard was extended in 1876 courtesy of a donation of one acre of land by Robert Arnold Vansittart, and again in 1885. The churchyard includes an unusual iron stone grave slab which marked the burial of Martin Manning 'Yeoman' in 1656 (although the inscription is no longer legible). The granite SirJohn Pender monument was blown over in the hurricane of October 1987 despite its great weight and later re-erected by the Pender family and Sir John's old companyCable & Wireless plc.[11]
In 1996 when contractors were cleaning out the void just above the walls around the nave, they found aDaily Express newspaper dated 29 October 1957 in an envelope signed by the seven workmen who had been installing a gas-fired boiler.[12]
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Foots Cray is served by 5London Buses routes.
The nearestNational Rail stations to Foots Cray areSidcup andSt Mary Cray.
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The Coca-Cola Company has a large manufacturing and bottling plant in Foots Cray which opened in 1961 and employs 361 people. This plant was whereDasani water was produced.[13]
Kolster-Brandes was a manufacturer of radio and television sets that moved to Foots Cray in 1928. The company was later acquired byITT. The Kolster-Brandes company rugby team, which was formed in 1967, is now called Foots Cray RUFC[1]Archived 23 May 2013 at theWayback Machine and competes to this day. The team's badge incorporates the STC letters which representStandard Telephones and Cables, the company which took over the Kolster Brands business.
Fujitsu had a call centre and software development offices on the site of the formerKolster-Brandes factory which closed in 2009.[14]
Richard Klinger Group, an Austrian company which made engine gaskets, hydraulic pipelines and water level gauges and valves, had a factory built in 1937 fronting Edgington Way in a Modernist architectural style. This Klinger factory, later bought by French company Trouvey Cauvin, closed in the 1990s[15] and was severely damaged by fire in 2013.[16] The main and flank facades were retained when the building was converted for self-storage use during 2018/19 when the exterior clock was restored.
The Robert Greig foodstore near the village centre was modified as a Lidl supermarket in the early 1990s and traded until 16 January 2022, when it was superseded by a purpose-built supermarket on Sevenoaks Way, inSt. Mary Cray to the south.
A small short livedgreyhound racing track was opened during the mid-1930s in the area. The exact location is unknown but according to the 1934Kelly's Directory was located on the Sidcup Hill side of Foots Cray. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body, theNational Greyhound Racing Club) and was known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks.[17][18]
In 1977, Foots Cray Lions football club was established, with one team entering the local league. The club's matches are played at Baugh Road in Foots Cray. The club has male and female adult and junior teams. In 2016 Foots Cray Lions were voted Charter Standard Development Club of the Year by theFootball Association.[citation needed]
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