Kidbrooke

Kidbrooke
Kidbrooke
Kidbrooke shown within Greater London
Population 14,300 (2011 Census: Kidbrooke with Hornfair Ward)[1]
OS grid reference TQ413760
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district SE3, SE9
Dialling code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
London Assembly

Kidbrooke is a district of south east London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is northwest of Eltham and 7 1⁄2 miles (12 km) east-south-east of Charing Cross.

The district takes its name from the Kyd Brook, a watercourse which runs from Orpington to Lewisham, by which point it is part of the River Quaggy. It is a tributary to the River Ravensbourne.

Housing

A map showing the Kidbrooke ward of Greenwich Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916

The area contains a large amount of 1920s and 1930s domestic housing, developed partly as the Kidbrooke Park Estate, between Shooters Hill and Rochester Way.

Kidbrooke was also home to the Ferrier Estate, built from 1968, and one of the largest and most deprived council housing developments in London. The housing estate was demolished in 2012 and redeveloped as Kidbrooke Village, a development of 4200 homes masterplanned by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands with Design and Build MEP contractor Cilantro Engineering.

Features

Houses and gardens in Kidbrooke, January 1980

Immediately south of the former Ferrier Estate is Sutcliffe Park which includes a lake, acting as a flood defence, and created by partly releasing the Kyd Brook from concrete conduits underground in which it had run until 2006.

Rochester Way, a road which was built along much of the course of the old country lane Kidbrooke Lane, was intended as a bypass for Shooters Hill to the north. Rochester Way has itself now been bypassed by a dual carriageway – part of the A2 road – built in the 1980s over most of Kidbrooke Green. A small remaining piece of this open land, alongside the road, is now Kidbrooke Green Park, and adjacent to that, a small nature reserve managed by Greenwich Council. The nature reserve is visible, but not open to the public.

Some of the land encroached on by the dual carriageway, adjacent to the railway line serving Kidbrooke railway station, was formerly a Royal Air Force equipment store. Some of the buildings remain, south of the houses of Nelson Mandela Road, but the site is now little used.[2] Nearby to the northwest, Thomas Tallis School is built on the former site of a prisoner-of-war camp,[3] part of RAF Kidbrooke, formerly a barrage balloon centre.[4] (There are several other military facilities in the general vicinity, which is also close to a surviving base in Woolwich, long home to the Royal Artillery and now to other parts of the British Army.)

The A2 road gives the area rapid access to the London Inner Ring Road, the South Circular Road, London and the M25 London Orbital Motorway.

The area falls within Transport for London's "Zone 3". The nearest railway stations are Blackheath, Eltham and Kidbrooke. Trains go to London Victoria, London Cannon Street and London Charing Cross.

Education

Primary schools

  • Wingfield School
  • Kidbrooke Park
  • Holy Family R.C
  • Henwick Primary School
  • Ealdham Primary School

Secondary schools

Notable inhabitants

Famous residents have included comedian Jim Davidson, who grew up in Holburne Road; interior designer Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen, who lived in a bungalow on Kidbrooke Park Road until 2004; and singer Sandie Shaw. AFC Bournemouth player Junior Stanislas was born in Kidbrooke.

See also

Roads

Nearby areas

References

  1. ↑ "Greenwich Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Secret Bases
  3. ↑ "Barrage balloons and trainee spies in Kidbrooke". Thames Facing East. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  4. ↑ BBC "People's War"
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