Barnes Cray

infobox UK place
country = England
map_type = Greater London
region= London
population=
official_name= Barnes Cray
latitude= 51.4578
longitude= 0.1960
constituency_westminster= Bexleyheath and Crayford
post_town= DARTFORD
london_borough= Bexley
postcode_area=DA
postcode_district=DA1
dial_code= 01322
os_grid_reference= TQ525755

Barnes Cray is a place in the London Borough of Bexley. Its name derives from the prominent local Barne family. [http://www.bexley.gov.uk/localstudies/history_pdfs/22_crayford.pdf Bexley Local Studies Note 22 'Crayford'] accessed 27 Jun 2007]

Up until the Victorian era it was a hamlet a kilometre downstream of Crayford where no more than sixteen homes were clustered. A calico-printing works drew water power from the culverted River Wansunt in early Victorian times, being later adapted for the manufacture of rubber goods, then felt and finally Brussels carpets. This carpet mill was demolished by 1890 and Barnes Cray House, the next largest building, was cleared by 1933, ending its days as a nursing home.

The remnants of the settlement became absorbed into Crayford with the building of a munition village to facilitate the expansion of Vickers' armaments factory during the 1915 to 1919 period.In 1920 the area became part of the Crayford Urban District of Kent (having previously been in Dartford Rural District). Following World War I Crayford Urban District Council erected further housing estates to the north, eventually merging with estates spreading southwards from Erith. In 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, the urban district was abolished and its area transferred to Greater London to form part of the present-day London Borough of Bexley. [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10025746&c_id=10001043]

The [http://www.thegwt.org.uk Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre] is in Barnes Cray.

The site of the current Barnes Cray Primary School is the proposed site for a new Academy for ages 3-19, which is being consulted upon from September - December 2008. [http://www.crayfordacademy.org/docs/HC-Full.pdf Haberdashers Askes Crayford Academy Consultation document] accessed 8 Oct 2008]

Education

:"For education in PAGENAME see the main London Borough of Bexley article"

Transport

Buses

*428 - Erith Town Centre and Bluewater Shopping Centre

Nearest places

*Crayford
*Slade Green
*Dartford
*Barnehurst

References