Orpington, Kent

Historical Description

Orpington, a village and a parish in Kent. The village has a station on the S.E.R., 13 miles from London, 4 SE of Bromley, and a post, money order, and telegraph office. The parish contains also the hamlet of Crofton, and comprises 3517 acres; population, 4099. There is a parish council consisting of fifteen members. The manor of Great Orpington belongs to the Dyke family, and that of Little Orpington to the Stapleton family. The Priory, a residence in the neighbourhood, is a very ancient mansion in the Tudor style, parts of the building dating back as far as 1393. Hops and all kinds of fruit are plentifully grown. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is mainly Early English, includes Norman portions, and has a low embattled tower. There is a Baptist chapel. St Paul's is a small chapel of ease situated at Crofton, and there is a large new church (St Andrew's) near St Mary 'Cray. Queen Elizabeth was entertained at Bark Hart in 1573 by Sir P. Hart.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Orpington from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Orpington (All Saints))

Maps

Online maps of Orpington are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:

• Kent & Sussex Courier
• Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
• Dover Express
• Kentish Gazette
• Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
• Kentish Chronicle
• Maidstone Telegraph

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.