Wilmington is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the Borough of Dartford in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. It is located 2.7 miles south of Dartford, 3.5 miles north of

Swanley Swanley is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2011 census was 16,226. History ...

and 4.3 miles south east of Bexleyheath, adjacent to the Kent border with Greater London.

History

Wilmington is believed to have been the site of a major Celtic settlement and a place where the Cantii tribe fought Roman invaders near

Leyton Cross Leyton Cross is a small semi-rural area in Kent, England, that largely falls within the parish of Wilmington in the borough of Dartford, although north of Oakfield Lane the area is administered directly by Dartford Borough Council. The boundari ...

and Joyden's Wood. In the reign of Edward IV, a manor house in the village was a residence of the king-making

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

. In the 19th century Wilmington was noted for being surrounded by gardens and cherry orchards. In the 1970s the village was bisected by the A2 dual carriageway.

Notable residents

Wilmington is perhaps most famous for being the childhood home of

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

, lead singer with the Rolling Stones. An earlier resident was Sir James Whitehead, whose family grave is in the village churchyard. He was Lord Mayor of London c.1888-9 and he lived for a number of years in the Manor, which was an early part of the girls' school. Two daughters, Leila and Florence, lived at Hazlewood in Rowhill and they founded the mission in Broad Lane.

Transport

Rail

The nearest

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

stations to Wilmington are Dartford,

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

Buses

*429 to Dartford or to West Kingsdown via Joydens Wood,

Farningham Farningham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located south-east of Swanley. It has a population of 1,314. History Farningham is believed to be home to Neolithic history – flint and other tools ha ...

. Monday to Saturday. Operated by

Go-Coach Go-Coachhire Ltd is a bus operator running a total of 40 bus services (including school services) across Kent and Sussex. The majority of these services are operated on behalf of Kent County Council from their depot in Swanley. History Go-Coa ...

. *477 to Dartford or to

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...

via Hextable, Swanley,

Crockenhill Crockenhill is a village in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 1 mile south of Swanley and 4.5 miles north east of Orpington, adjacent to the Kent border with Greater London. Etymology Crockenhill is from Old English ''hyll'' ...

& St Mary Cray. Monday to Saturday. Operated by Arriva Kent Thameside. *B12 to Erith via

, Bexleyheath &

Northumberland Heath Northumberland Heath is an area of South East London, England within the London Borough of Bexley. It is located south of Erith and north of Bexleyheath. History The area was once known as Spike Island after the workhouse that was situated ther ...

or to Joydens Wood. Operated by Go Ahead London for London Buses.

Sport

Wilmington Cricket Club has been a part of the village for over 100 years and has had many successes in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, playing at Lords twice and winning many competitions over the years. They currently play in the Kent Regional Cricket League and the home ground is in Oakfield Park. Wilmington used to have a successful football club whose history, in the form of trophies and shields, is displayed in the Wilmington Pavilion on Oakfield Lane. In 2014, Richard Moore, a resident of Wilmington, started a new Wilmington FC team playing in the North Kent Sunday League. In their first season they won the League Three title as well as the League A cup.

Schools

There are three secondary schools within the parish: Wilmington Grammar School for Boys (WGSB), whose students wear blue blazers, white shirts, grey trousers and different ties for each house within the school (these colours are red, green, white, black, yellow and purple, after the houses Telford, Stephenson, Darwin, Newton, Hawing, and Brunel ); Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (WGSG) formally The Grammar School for Girls Wilmington (GSGW), where the uniforms are maroon jumpers and skirts and a sky-blue revere collar blouse; and the mixed-sex

Wilmington Academy Wilmington Academy is a mixed secondary school located in Wilmington, Kent in the United Kingdom. It stands next to the site of Wilmington Hall. Wilmington Academy, as of 1 November 2018, had 1225 students including 121 in Sixth Form, with 365 ...

(formerly Wilmington Hall), whose pupils wear black blazers. Wilmington Academy and 'Wilmington Boys' are situated near Common Lane While 'Wilmington Girls' is situated on the nearby Parsons Lane. The Academy was built in the mid-1970s on the site of Wilmington Hall Manor and is a specialist centre of excellence for both business and vocational courses. Wilmington Grammar School for Boys has

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

specialist status. Wilmington Grammar School for Girls specialises in mathematics and computing. There is one

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

in the village, Wilmington Primary School, and another in Joydens Wood Estate; a nursery school is situated next to Wilmington Academy. Three of the schools in the village (WGSB, WGSB, and Wilmington Primary) are part of the Endeavour Mat trust, which also includes Stone lodge, a school located in nearby Stone. The Dartford Campus of North West Kent College is accessed via Oakfield Lane, Wilmington,Only the westbound lane and properties to the south of the road lie within Wilmington parish but its grounds lie within Dartford.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Kent Borough of Dartford Civil parishes in Kent