Foots Cray
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Template:Infobox London place Foots Cray is a place in the London Borough of Bexley near to the town of Sidcup.
It took its name from Godwin Fot, a local Saxon landowner recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and from the River Cray that passes through the village. It lay on the old Maidstone Road (now bypassed by the A20 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. 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 a commuter 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. In 1965 both areas became part of the London Borough of Bexley.
The estate of Foots Cray Place was the site of a manor house that existed from 1754 to 1949. This was once occupied by Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer. Now only the stable block remains, but the grounds, known as Foots Cray meadows, provide a valuable, public green space in this south-eastern suburb of London. This 89 hectare park was formed in the early 19th century from two mid-18th-century landscaped parks. It is listed by English Heritage as a Grade II historic park. An impression of the surviving landscape can be obtained from the Hidden London website [1]. The "London LOOP" walk passes through Foots Cray meadows on its way from Old Bexley to Sidcup Place and Petts Wood. There is some industry in an area next to the meadows and bordering the river.
Geographical data: Template:Coor dm
See also
- Footscray, Victoria - the suburb of Melbourne, Australia named after this village