Downe
Downe | |
---|---|
![]() George and Dragon public house, Downe | |
Location within Greater London | |
OS grid reference | TQ435615 |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | ORPINGTON |
Postcode district | BR6 |
Dialling code | 01689 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Southwest_View_of_the_Church_of_Saint_Mary%2C_Downe_%2803%29.jpg/220px-Southwest_View_of_the_Church_of_Saint_Mary%2C_Downe_%2803%29.jpg)
Downe, formerly Down (/daʊn/), is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley, which formed part of Kent until 1965, and is beyond London's contiguous urban area. Downe is 3.4 miles (5.5 km) south west of Orpington and 14.2 miles (22.9 km) south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies on a low ridge (an outlier of the North Downs), and much of the centre of the village is unchanged[clarification needed][unchanged from what?]; the former village school now acts as the village hall. The word Downe originates from the Anglo Saxon word dūn, latterly down, hence the South and North Downs. In April 1965, much of Orpington Urban District, including Downe, was transferred from the historic county of Kent and placed within the newly created London Borough of Bromley.
Brief history
[edit]Lord Simon de Manning, a former Lord of the Manor of nearby Kevington, then in Kent, and holder of the land which now includes Downe, was a grandson of Rudolph de Manning, Count Palatine, who married Elgida, aunt of King Harold I, of England; he was the royal Standard Bearer to King Richard the Lionheart, who carried the Royal Standard to Jerusalem in 1190, during the First Crusade. In England, the forms Earl Palatine and Palatine Earldom are preferred.
As well as Downe, Kevington Manor then included the areas which later became Berry's Green, Luxted, Single Street, Westerham Hill, and Leaves Green. These (excluding Kevington), together formed the Darwin (ward), Greater London's largest electoral ward), as it was first constituted in 1965. The current elected political party's website (2022), states that the ward includes Cudham, Leaves Green, Leavesden Estate, Westerham Hill, Beechwood, Berry's Green, and Pratts Bottom.
When Charles Darwin moved there in 1842, the village was still known as Down.[1] Its name was changed in the 1840s to Downe, to avoid confusion with County Down in Ireland.[2]
Darwin
[edit]Charles Darwin lived in Down House for 40 years, from 1842 until he died there in 1882. He became a close friend of Sir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet, who lived nearby at the Lubbock's High Elms estate on the other side of the village. A favourite place of Darwin's was Downe Bank, now a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest, and several members of his family are buried in the graveyard of St Mary's Church.
Down House and the surrounding area has been nominated by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to become a World Heritage Site.[3] However, this decision has been deferred.[4]
Local politics
[edit]Since 2019, the local Member of Parliament has been Gareth Bacon of the Conservative Party. In the 2017 General Election, with a majority of 19,453 votes (38.5%), Orpington was the safest Conservative Parliamentary seat in London.
One councillor is elected every four years to Bromley London Borough Council. To date, the Darwin ward has only been represented by representatives from the Conservative Party. It is the largest Greater London ward, and includes Berry's Green, Single Street, Luxted, Leaves Green, Westerham Hill, and Cudham.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Richard Scoates | 1,201 | 72.8 | ||
Labour | Frank Evans | 185 | 11.2 | ||
Liberal Democrats | Millicent Scott Brooks | 133 | 8.1 | ||
Green | Jan Wilson | 130 | 7.9 | ||
Turnout | 1,649 | 40.0 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Richard Scoates | 987 | 51.2 | ||
UKIP | Eric Hayward | 681 | 35.3 | ||
Labour | John Evans | 105 | 5.4 | ||
Green | Eileen Galloway | 89 | 4.6 | ||
Liberal Democrats | William Ritchie | 45 | 2.3 | ||
Majority | 306 | ||||
Turnout | 1,927 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Buckston Browne Farm
[edit]Downe is the location of Buckston Browne Farm, built in 1931 as a surgical research centre by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS). In the 1980s, the farm caused controversy because of its use of vivisection techniques, and in August 1984 it was raided by anti-vivisection activists.
The farm has now been made into four houses.
Scouting
[edit]There are two scout campsites in the Downe area:
- The Downe Scout Activity Centre consisting of 86 acres (350,000 m2) of woodland and open fields is just outside the village.
- The Greenwich (one of the Districts of the Greater London South Scout county) District campsite is also nearby.
Transport
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Bus_146_in_Downe_2.jpg/220px-Bus_146_in_Downe_2.jpg)
Despite the village's separation from the capital's built-up area, Downe is still under Transport for London because of its location within the Greater London administrative area. It is served by several London bus services but overall has limited connections further into London. There are no rail links to the village (the nearest stations are Orpington, Bromley South, Bromley North and Hayes), but it is served by two hourly bus routes:
146 - Bromley North to Downe via Old Hayes and Keston
R8 – Biggin Hill to Orpington via Downe and Green Street Green
Notable people
[edit]- Bill Hunter Christie (1922–97), lobbyist for the Falkland Islanders[5]
- Charles Darwin (1809–82), biologist, naturalist and geologist
- Horace Darwin (1851–1928), civil engineer and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
- Nigel Farage (born 1964), former leader of UKIP and Member of European Parliament for South East England.
- Charles Hayes (1678–1760), mathematician and chronologist
- John Lubbock (1803–65), banker, barrister, mathematician and astronomer
- John Lubbock (1834–1913), banker, biologist, archaeologist and Liberal politician
- Mark Lubbock (1898–1986), conductor and composer of operetta and light music
- Herbert Newton Casson (1869–1951), journalist and author, founder of Efficiency magazine
- Olive Willis (1877–1964), founder of Downe House School
Nearest places
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Letter 637 — Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, E. C., (24 July 1842)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Archived from the original on 22 August 2007.
- ^ Rebecca Stott (30 April 2015). Darwin and the Barnacle. Faber & Faber. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-571-31779-0.
- ^ "UK launches Darwin heritage bid". BBC News. 30 January 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
- ^ "Darwin's home and workplace World Heritage nomination deferred by UNESCO Committee". Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 1 August 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
- ^ Christie, Merle. "CHRISTIE, ERIC WILLIAM HUNTER (Bill)". Dictionary of Falklands Biography. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)