London Borough of Bexley | |
|---|---|
 Council logo | |
| Motto(s): Boldly and Rightly | |
 Bexley shown withinGreater London | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | England |
| Region | London |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Created | 1 April 1965 |
| Admin HQ | Bexleyheath |
| Government | |
| • Type | London borough council |
| • Body | Bexley London Borough Council |
| • London Assembly | Thomas Turrell AM forBexley and Bromley |
| • MPs | Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour) Daniel Francis (Labour) Louie French (Conservative) |
| Area | |
• Total | 23.38 sq mi (60.56 km2) |
| • Rank | 234th(of 296) |
| Population (2024) | |
• Total | 256,434 |
| • Rank | 74th(of 296) |
| • Density | 10,970/sq mi (4,234/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Postcodes | |
| Area codes | 020, 01322 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-BEX |
| ONS code | 00AD |
| GSS code | E09000004 |
| Police | Metropolitan Police |
| Website | https://www.bexley.gov.uk/ |
TheLondon Borough of Bexley (/ˈbɛksli/ ⓘ) is aLondon borough in south-eastLondon, forming part ofOuter London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements areSidcup,Erith,Bexleyheath,Belvedere,Crayford,Welling andOld Bexley. The London Borough of Bexley is within theThames Gateway, an area designated as a national priority forurban regeneration. The local authority isBexley London Borough Council.
Prior to the 19th century the area now forming theborough was sparsely populated: very few of the present settlements were mentioned in theDomesday Book, although thevillage ofBexley has a charter dated814 AD.[1]Erith was a port on the River Thames until the 17th century; the opening of the sewage works at nearbyCrossness in the late 19th century turned it into an industrial town.
Today's settlement pattern is the result of the gradual extension of the London influence. Until the 19th century it was an area with a few isolated buildings such as theGeorgianDanson House. With the coming of the railways building began apace, although the area is still composed of many disconnected settlements, interspersed with area of open ground and parks.
Alocal government district calledBexley was created in 1880, covering the parish ofBexley, which included both Bexley village and Bexleyheath.[2][3][4]: 15 Another local government district had been created covering the neighbouring parish ofErith in 1876.[5] Such districts were converted intourban districts under theLocal Government Act 1894.[6]
Bexley Urban District absorbed the neighbouring parish ofEast Wickham in 1902;Welling had previously straddled the boundary between Bexley and East Wickham, but after 1902 was therefore wholly in Bexley.[7]Crayford was made an urban district in 1920.[8] Bexley was made amunicipal borough in 1935,[9] as was Erith in 1938.[10]
The modern borough was created in 1965 under theLondon Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former boroughs ofBexley andErith, theCrayford Urban District and theSidcup area from theChislehurst and Sidcup Urban District (theChislehurst area went to theLondon Borough of Bromley). The area was transferred fromKent to Greater London, to become one of the 32 London boroughs.[11]
Thecoat of arms of theborough depicts symbols for the main rivers in the area, the Bexley Charter Oak, the industry and theKentboundary.
The local authority is Bexley Council, which has its headquarters at theBexley Civic Offices inBexleyheath.[12]
Since 2000, for elections to theLondon Assembly, the borough forms part of theBexley and Bromley constituency.
Bexley, lying as it does on the outer fringe of London, has many relatively large areas of open space. The ridge of higher ground in South London crosses the Borough from its high point ofShooters Hill, on the boundary with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, to end above theRiver Thames atBelvedere, where the land drops down to the old port ofErith. This high land, whose geology is the sand and pebbles of theBlackheath beds,[13] and which results inheathland, provided a natural course for the oldRoman road ofWatling Street, which ran betweenCrayford andWelling. The land falls away to the north of the high ground, across the Erith Marshes to theRiver Thames, which here makes a loop to the north atCrossness. There is a further ridge of less higher ground from the west terminating atSidcup.[1]
Apart from the River Thames the other rivers within the Borough are theRiver Darent, which, with its tributary theRiver Cray and the smallerStanham River, all form part of its north-eastern boundary; and theRiver Shuttle, a tributary of the Cray.
The major centres of settlement can be considered in two parts: the older established erstwhile villages; and the infill areas of suburban houses and centres.[14] Among the former areErith, in the 17th century a port on the Thames, and an industrial town in the later 19th century;Bexleyheath, created at the same time on the London toDover road. By the earlier 20th century, both were createdUrban District Councils (UDC), as wasFoots Cray (an ancient village site).Thamesmead, the "new town" built on what was the Erith Marshes, extends into the Borough: both Thamesmead North and South are located here.Crayford was mentioned in theDomesday Book, and its parish later included the hamlets ofNorth End andSlade Green.
Other settlements includeWelling, which has a higher population than Bexleyheath, a staging post on the Dover Road, which was at one time of less importance than the nearbyEast Wickham (also an ancient village), was absorbed in Bexley UDC.Barnes Cray andNorth Cray were two hamlets in the Cray Valley; andBelvedere was the location of a medieval monastery.
The map of Bexley[15] shows that a large proportion of its area comprisessuburbia. Some named places, likeAlbany Park andBarnehurst, are names given to developments engendered by the building of the railways. Some came into being when large estates and farmland were broken up for the sole purpose of suburban building: these includeBlackfen,Lamorbey and part ofFalconwood. Others simply reflect the nature of area:Lessness Heath;Longlands (part of Sidcup);Northumberland Heath andWest Heath.
The borough has boundaries with theLondon Borough of Bromley to the south and theRoyal Borough of Greenwich to the west; across theRiver Thames to the north it borders theLondon Borough of Havering andLondon Borough of Barking and Dagenham; there is a short boundary with the unitary authority ofThurrock inEssex to the northeast. There are boundaries with theBorough of Dartford to the east andSevenoaks district to the southeast, both in the county ofKent.
Despite the suburbia mentioned above, there are still open spaces among the borough's streets and avenues. The Borough owns and maintains over one hundred parks and open spaces, large and small; and there is still a part of theErith Marshes bordering the River Thames. The Crayford Marshes lie to the east of that river, as doFoots Cray Meadows further south.
The largest of the open spaces areFoots Cray Meadows,Lesnes Abbey Woods,Danson Park andHall Place Gardens. There are also many golf courses and sports fields, particularly to the west of Crayford.
Hall Place is a former stately home, today a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument, beside the River Cray on the outskirts of Crayford, south-east of Bexleyheath and north-east of Old Bexley. It is situated just off the A223, Bourne Road, south of Watling Street (A207) and north of theBlack Prince interchange of the A2 Rochester Way with the A220.
Thehouse dates back to around 1540 when wealthy merchantSir John Champneys,Lord Mayor of London in 1534, built himself a country house. In 1649, the house was sold to another wealthyCity merchant,Sir Robert Austen (1587–1666), who added a second wing built of red bricks, doubling the size of the house.
Currently, the building houses a museum of local artefacts, and a history and tourist information centre. In the gardens there is a topiary lawn, herb garden, tropical garden and long herbaceous cottage garden-styled borders. The former walled gardens include a tropical house housing plants and a large vegetable garden. Model gardens have been created to show visitors how to make use of space in small urban gardens. Hall Place also has three galleries inside the house, presenting art exhibitions and museum displays.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1801 | 4,165 | — |
| 1811 | 5,164 | +24.0% |
| 1821 | 6,279 | +21.6% |
| 1831 | 7,725 | +23.0% |
| 1841 | 9,616 | +24.5% |
| 1851 | 10,963 | +14.0% |
| 1861 | 16,477 | +50.3% |
| 1871 | 21,991 | +33.5% |
| 1881 | 27,505 | +25.1% |
| 1891 | 35,728 | +29.9% |
| 1901 | 46,904 | +31.3% |
| 1911 | 61,582 | +31.3% |
| 1921 | 77,747 | +26.2% |
| 1931 | 98,160 | +26.3% |
| 1941 | 139,861 | +42.5% |
| 1951 | 199,297 | +42.5% |
| 1961 | 208,138 | +4.4% |
| 1971 | 217,375 | +4.4% |
| 1981 | 214,352 | −1.4% |
| 1991 | 219,422 | +2.4% |
| 2001 | 218,307 | −0.5% |
| 2011 | 231,997 | +6.3% |
| Source:A Vision of Britain through time | ||
In 1801, thecivil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 4,165. This rose slowly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 10,963 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate ofpopulation growth increased. The population peaked in the 1970s, when industry began to relocate from London.
In the2001 census, the borough had a population of 218,307; of whom 105,148 were male, and 113,159 female. Of the population, 44.3% were in full-time employment and 11.6% in part-time employment – compared to a London average of 42.6% and 8.6%, respectively. Residents were predominantly owner-occupiers, with 31.7% owning their house outright, and a further 46.5% owning with a mortgage. Only 2.2% were inlocal authority housing, with a further 11.5% renting from ahousing association, or other registered social landlord.[16]
The greater part of the population are nominalAnglicans, but there are a number ofRoman Catholic churches and nonconformist congregations. In the 2001 Census, 22.7% of the area's population described themselves asnon-religious or chose not to state their faith.[17]
Baptists,Plymouth Brethren, andMethodists are among the other congregations. In 2008 the former Crayford Methodist Church was purchased by the North West Kent Muslim Association to become a mosque serving Bexley and Dartford boroughs.
In 2011, 58.1% of Bexley's population was between 20 and 64 years old, the lowest percentage in London. 16% of the population was over 65, the third highest behindBromley andHavering. The average household size is 2.49, up from 2.43 in 2001. The number of households increased by 3.52% to 92,600 between 2001 and 2011, one of the lowest increases in the capital.[18]
In 2011, 62.5% of the borough's population identified themselves as Christian, with 24.1% having no religion. Both figures are above London's average.[19]
The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 census in Bexley.
| Ethnic Group | Year | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 estimations[20] | 1981 estimations[21] | 1991 census[22] | 2001 census[23] | 2011 census[24] | 2021 census[25] | |||||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White: Total | – | 98.1% | 204,367 | 95.8% | 203,117 | 94.2% | 199,510 | 91.39% | 189,962 | 81.88% | 177,164 | 71.8% |
| White:British | – | – | – | – | – | – | 191,947 | 87.93% | 179,250 | 77.26% | 158,842 | 64.4% |
| White:Irish | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3,025 | 1.39% | 2,596 | 1.12% | 2,528 | 1.0% |
| White:Gypsy or Irish Traveller | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 624 | 0.27% | 620 | 0.3% |
| White: Roma | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 302 | 0.1% |
| White:Other | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4,538 | 2.08% | 7,492 | 3.23% | 14,872 | 6.0% |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | – | – | – | – | 8,133 | 3.8% | 8,934 | 4.09% | 15,243 | 6.57% | 24,434 | 9.9% |
| Asian or Asian British:Indian | – | – | – | – | 5231 | 5,548 | 2.54% | 7,047 | 3.04% | 10,925 | 4.4% | |
| Asian or Asian British:Pakistani | – | – | – | – | 267 | 334 | 0.15% | 730 | 0.31% | 1,383 | 0.6% | |
| Asian or Asian British:Bangladeshi | – | – | – | – | 282 | 386 | 0.18% | 777 | 0.33% | 1,790 | 0.7% | |
| Asian or Asian British:Chinese | – | – | – | – | 1201 | 1,555 | 0.71% | 2,514 | 1.08% | 3,990 | 1.6% | |
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | – | – | – | – | 1152 | 1,111 | 0.51% | 4,175 | 1.80% | 6,346 | 2.6% | |
| Black or Black British: Total | – | – | – | – | 3,012 | 1.4% | 6,252 | 2.86% | 19,624 | 8.46% | 30,075 | 12.2% |
| Black or Black British:African | – | – | – | – | 918 | 0.4% | 4,085 | 1.87% | 15,952 | 6.88% | 23,262 | 9.4% |
| Black or Black British:Caribbean | – | – | – | – | 1466 | 1,762 | 0.81% | 2,381 | 1.03% | 3,230 | 1.3% | |
| Black or Black British:Other Black | – | – | – | – | 628 | 405 | 0.19% | 1,291 | 0.56% | 3,583 | 1.5% | |
| Mixed or British Mixed: Total | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,872 | 1.32% | 5,395 | 2.33% | 8,740 | 3.6% |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | – | – | – | – | – | – | 868 | 0.40% | 1,676 | 0.72% | 2,489 | 1.0% |
| Mixed: White and Black African | – | – | – | – | – | – | 394 | 0.18% | 983 | 0.42% | 1,726 | 0.7% |
| Mixed: White and Asian | – | – | – | – | – | – | 915 | 0.42% | 1,369 | 0.59% | 2,179 | 0.9% |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | – | – | – | – | – | – | 695 | 0.32% | 1,367 | 0.59% | 2,346 | 1.0% |
| Other: Total | – | – | – | – | 1353 | 0.62% | 739 | 0.34% | 1,773 | 0.76% | 6,062 | 2.4% |
| Other: Arab | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 303 | 0.13% | 527 | 0.2% |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | – | – | – | – | 1353 | 0.62% | – | – | 1,470 | 0.63% | 5,535 | 2.2% |
| Ethnic minority: Total | – | 1.9% | 8,931 | 4.2% | 12,498 | 5.82% | 18,797 | 8.61% | 42,035 | 18.12% | 69,311 | 28.2% |
| Total | – | 100% | 213,298 | 100% | 215,615 | 100% | 218,307 | 100.00% | 231,997 | 100.00% | 246,475 | 100% |
The principal roads through the Borough include theA2 trunk road; theA20 (Sidcup By-pass) which generally marks its southern boundary; theA207, which is the route of the erstwhileWatling Street; theA206 which takes traffic fromWoolwich andDartford; and the latter's newer counterpart, theA2016 throughThamesmead.
There are also somelong-distance footpaths in the Borough: among them theThames Path and theLondon Outer Orbital Path. Bexley Borough has joined with three other adjoining boroughs to for theSouth East London Green Chain linking green spaces.
Bexley is not served by anyLondon Underground,Tramlink,Docklands Light Railway orLondon Overground services. However, since 2022,Elizabeth line services have started to utilise a terminus atAbbey Wood, the entrance to which is in Bexley (due to the borough boundary passing through the site, the station's platforms sit within theRoyal Borough of Greenwich). There are various proposals to extend either the DLR or London Overground to Thamesmead. There are currently no plans to extend the London Underground into the borough, with the nearest current station being inNorth Greenwich.
There are three suburban railway lines crossing the Borough which converge atDartford. The most northerly is (1) theNorth Kent Line, then (2) theBexleyheath Line which runs through the centre of the borough and then finally (3) theDartford Loop Line which runs furthest south. Abbey Wood and Slade Green are also served byThameslink trains.
TheNational Rail stations (lines) are:
In 2019, the mode share in Bexley was reported as follows[26]
| Mode | Share |
|---|---|
| Car/motorcycle | 57% |
| Walking | 24% |
| Cycling | 1% |
| Bus/Tram | 12% |
| Taxi/other | 1% |
According to a report from Transport for London,[27] Bexley has the lowest overall active, efficient and sustainable mode shares of all the London Boroughs.
The following Pie chart shows the religious affiliation of residents residing in Bexley.
Buildings withGrade II listings (buildings of special interest warranting preservation) are marked with anasterisk *
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The London Borough of Bexley has three fire stations controlled by theLondon Fire Brigade within its boundary: those at Erith, Sidcup and Bexley. Bexley fire station's ground is the largest of the three; covering 23.7 km2.[38]
The Borough has severalNon-League football clubs:
Bexley RFC
The borough istwinned with:
The town ofBexley, Ohio, a suburb of the state capital,Columbus, was named at the suggestion of an early resident, James Kilbourne, whose family's roots were in Bexley, England.[39] In addition, a suburb ofSydney, Australia bears the name ofBexley and a suburb ofChristchurch, New Zealand is also calledBexley. These places outside England are named after the ancient village of Bexley.
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51°27′N0°08′E / 51.450°N 0.133°E /51.450; 0.133 (L. Borough of Bexley)
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