Dead Tree Landscape at Foots Cray Meadows

Foots Cray Meadows is an area of parkland and woodland 97 hectares (240 acres) in size, within the

London Borough of Bexley The London Borough of Bexley () is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Belvedere, London, Belvedere, Crayford ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It borders the suburbs of Albany Park,

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

Foots Cray Foots Cray is an area of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. Prior to 1965 it was in the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Sidcup, north of Orpington and north west of Swanley. History It to ...

North Cray North Cray is an area in South East Greater London, London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Sidcup and south of Bexleyheath and is south-east of Charing Cross, the traditional centre of London in the Metropo ...

and

Ruxley Ruxley is a rural settlement of South East London, England that straddles the boundary of the London Boroughs of Bromley and Bexley. It is located 13 miles southeast of Charing Cross, the traditional centre of London, in the Metropolitan Gr ...

. The

River Cray The River Cray is the largest tributary of the River Darent. It is the prime river of outer, south-east Greater London, rising in Priory Gardens, Orpington, where rainwater percolates through the chalk bedrock of the Downs to form a pond wher ...

runs through it in a north-easterly direction. The

London Loop The London Outer Orbital Path—more usually the "London LOOP"—is a 150-mile (242 km) signed walk along public footpaths, and through parks, woods and fields around the edge of Outer London, England, described as "the M25 for walke ...

, a public recreational walking path around London, also known as the "M25 for walkers", runs through the meadows parallel to the river from Sidcup Place, just south of the meadows. Two notable bridges cross the River Cray in the meadows: Five Arches bridge and the smaller Penny Farthing Bridge. The Meadows are a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. They have also received a

Green Flag Award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

. There is access from Rectory Lane, among other places. Adjacent to the meadows is what was the kitchen garden and stables of the

Foots Cray Place Foots Cray Place was one of the four country houses built in England in the 18th century to a design inspired by Palladio's Villa Capra near Vicenza. Built in 1754 near Sidcup, Kent, Foots Cray Place was demolished in 1950 after a fire in 1949. ...

estate and which included a

boules Boules (, ), or ''jeu de boules'', is a collective name for a wide range of games similar to bowls and bocce in which the objective is to throw or roll heavy balls as closely as possible to a small target ball, called the ''jack''. 'Boules' its ...

alley with a summer house which is still standing.

History

The area was originally a part of the

estate, and during the 18th century the Five Arches bridge was built. At the same time, an almshouse was built adjacent to the woods, which, as of 2008, was being excavated by

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

belonging to Bexley Archaeological Group
Bexley Archaeological Group
On 18 October 1949

caught fire and the house was destroyed. The ruins were subsequently demolished and the grounds became Foots Cray Meadows, a public park. In the early 2000s, Five Arches bridge was renovated with new stone, along with the 'Penny Farthing' bridge just upstream.A History of Foots Cray Place

Gallery

File:Foots Cray Meadows 2.JPG, Foots Cray Meadows File:Foots Cray Meadows lake.JPG, Lake in Foots Cray Meadows File:River Cray in Foots Cray Meadows.JPG, River Cray in Foots Cray Meadows File:Five Arches Bridge at Foots Cray Meadows, Western Side.jpg File:Five Arches, Foots Cray Meadows.JPG, The 18th century Five Arches bridge after its renovation in the 2000s File:Five Arches.JPG, Five Arches in winter File:Foots Cray Meadows Sweet Chestnut.jpg, Sweet chestnut tree at the Meadows, one of the oldest documented trees in the region File:Masonry at Foots Cray Meadows.jpg, Fallen masonry

References

Copies of A History of Footscray can be purchased from Bexley Archaeological Grou
Bexley Archaeological Group

Bibliography

External links

Friends of Foots Cray Meadows
---- {{coord, 51.4258, 0.1271, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Bexley Local nature reserves in Greater London Meadows in Greater London Nature reserves in the London Borough of Bexley Sidcup