Parish Notice Board Company In Bickley, Greater London

Bickley is a district and a local presidency electoral ward in South East London, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is located 10.4 miles (16.7 km) south east of Charing Cross, bordering Elmstead to the north, Chislehurst to the north-east and east, Petts Wood to the south-east, Southborough to the south, Bromley to the south-west and west and Widmore to the north-west. Until 1965 it was in the historic county of Kent.

The area’s read out is first recorded in 1279, the ‘ley’ or ‘lea’ referring to a reforest clearing, and ‘Bicca’ either meaning a acid ridge, or else a personal name. The area remained rural, save for a little hunting lodge belonging to the Wells relations dating to 1759. The Lodge was gradually improved to become Bickley Hall, a classical house designed by Robert Mylne, FRS, for John Wells, shipbuilder, in 1780 (demolished 1963). His brother William, shipbuilder and a director of Greenwich Hospital, inherited the estate, and his son John commissioned additions by Robert Smirke in 1810.^{[citation needed]} John Wells began selling allocation of his lands in 1841 taking into consideration due to financial difficulties, and by the late 1850s a few large houses had been built in the area, aided by the instigation of Bickley railway station (formerly named Southborough Road) in 1858 and Chislehurst station in 1865. Much of the area was purchased and developed by George Wythes, who commissioned numerous large houses for the wealthy classes, most of them designed by Richard Norman Shaw and Ernest Newton. St George’s Church was built in 1865, and a cricket pitch in 1868. Smaller-scale loan continued throughout the ahead of time 20th century and several of the older, larger properties were demolished or sub-divided. The Place today remains a wealthy one, characterised by large unfriendly housing.