Slade Green

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Slade Green
Kent

The Railway Tavern, Slade Green
Location
Grid reference: TQ5376
Location: 51°28’5"N, -0°11’20"E
Data
Post town: Erith
Postcode: DA8
Dialling code: 01322
Local Government
Council: Bexley
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Bexleyheath and Crayford

Slade Green is a suburban village of Kent, to the north-west of Dartford and south of Erith.

The origin of the name is uncertain. It may be from the Old English slæd for a broad strip of grass-covered land, or low-lying ground. An alternative is the Old Norse "Slad", meaning a place for launching boats. Most sources agree that "Green" was added to reflect the deep colour of the grass-covered ground. Sources differ on when Slade Green was first mentioned with one suggesting the 16th Century.[1]

History and development

Prehistory

Collectors such as Flaxman Charles John Spurrell discovered diverse Palaeolithic fossils around Slade Green, along with flint artefacts that provide evidence of prehistoric human habitation.[2] Pre-war maps indicate a tumulus#United Kingdom|barrow stood near the current Hazel Drive children's play area,[3] and the Museum of London Archaeological Service revealed the presence of a prehistoric cookery pit at Hollywood Way.[4]

Mediæval

Some sources claim the area is recorded in the Domesday Book as Hov, and others suggest this was Hou (later Howbury).[1][5] An early translation states that Howbury was a hamlet on the bank of River Darent, which is approximately half a mile east of the small Slade Green hamlet recorded by 19th Century geographers. This mediæval hamlet was held by Askell, apparently a Priest from Abingdon Abbey who held estates in various parts of England and bequeathed titles to Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester.[6][7][8]

A moated seigneurial residence was built much closer Slade Green in the High Middle Ages, with its country house completed during the Renaissance, and these structures were named Howbury Manor.[9][10][1] An adjacent tithe barn, with 17th Century styling, has not been accurately dated.[11] Surrounding green belt marshes contain willows thought to have been planted over 300 years ago to shelter livestock.

Victorian

The communities of North End and Slades Green[12] (formerly Slads Green[13]) had remained disjointed throughout the Agricultural Revolution. Samuel Lewis' 1848 A Topographical Dictionary of England states that Slades Green was the smaller hamlet with 66 people.[14][15]

Evidence suggests the region remained sparsely populated yet highly productive throughout the Industrial Revolution. The 1869-1882 Ordnance Survey recorded a particularly large “Sladesgreen Farm” with its south-west corner occupied by “The Corner Pin” beerhouse.[16][17] The pub was demolished and rebuilt in 1958.[3] The surrounding area was affectionately known locally as “Cabbage Island” in reference to the market gardens located between Moat Lane (formerly Whitehall Lane) and Slade Green Road (formerly Slade Green Lane).[18][19][20] Victorian photographic evidence captures the high crop yield of these agricultural gardens at Slade Green.[21] Historic maps also chronicle an increasing number of clay pits along the railway on the North End side of the tracks.[16] Marshes are a natural source of clays and brick earths, and local firms produced large numbers of London stock bricks throughout the 19th Century. “Furner of Slade Green“ operated the North End brickworks from 1867 to 1911.[22] Slade Green gained a National School in 1868, and became recognised as a village when St Augustine's Church opened in 1899.

The isolated Crayford Marshes, which could support barges along the Rivers Thames and Darent, were seen as an ideal location for the 40 acre ammunition works that may have operated from 1879 to 1962.[23] Noted mechanical engineer, Hugh Ticehurst MBE, worked at the site from 1893 to 1930.[24]

Edwardian

Rapid expansion followed the construction of a major rail depot designed to service 100 steam locomotives for South Eastern and Chatham Railway. [20] A small station was added to serve the depot and community on 1 July 1900 (its name changed from Slades Green station to Slade Green station in 1953),[12] and by 1910 the complete 'railway village' of 158 houses had been built.[20] It follows that today's much larger and more densely populated Slade Green could be described as a railway town.

By 1902 the secure Thames Munition Works was operated by Armstrong Whitworth and equipped with a Thames pier connected to an internal railway.[25][26]

Bexley borough's archived photos suggest the significance of the village had increased by 1905 and that it had absorbed historically important Howbury Manor.[27][28]

First World War

NTWFF Erith, a National Trench Warfare Filling Factory, was constructed next to the larger Thames Munition Works in 1915.[29] For a short time a mortar filling station was connected to Slade Green station by the 1½ mile “Trench Warfare Light Railway”.[30][3][31]

Interwar

Slade Green endured a national tragedy.[32] En-masse explosions at a former Trench Warfare Filling Factory operated by Messrs. W.V. Gilbert, a contractor to the Disposal and Liquidation Commission, caused blinding flashes and the death of 13 workers— 12 teenage girls and one man who was their foreman— on 18 February 1924.[33][34][35][36] The W.V. Gilbert factory was near to or adjoining Thames Munition Works.[37] The parliamentary debate that followed showed that the contract did not require a Fair Wages Clause, and was exempt from the provisions of the Explosives Act of 1875.[38] A prominent mass grave at Northumberland Heath stands in memory of the victims.[39]

Development may have stagnated in the interwar years. Records show a Baptist Church was built on Elm road in the early 1930s, and Anti-Aircraft defences were constructed on the edge of Slade Green in the late 1930s.[3]

Second World War

Throughout Second World War the marshes were used for the 4.5-inch HAA (Heavy Anti-Aircraft) Guns of the 6th Anti-Aircraft Division, corresponding with No. 11 Group RAF. The 4th Home Counties Brigade (Kent) formed from volunteers in the surrounding area in 1908, deployed overseas, and manned London's air defences at Slade Green in 1941. The disused command post and circular battery ramparts remain in the marshes between Slade Green and the former munition works. Slade Green was subject to a series of air raids, notably the night of 16 April 1941 when incendiary raids caused many fires and explosions capable of levelling the area; these threats were contained by the brave intervention of residents resulting in the award of three British Empire Medals and a George Medal.[40][41] The Museum of London states that Howbury Manor House, pictured within the moated mediæval walls, was bombed during an air raid and then demolished.[42] RAF campaign diaries show Thames Ammunition Works was hit on 12 October 1940.

After the War

Slade Green emerged as a suburb after the War, following the construction of at least 1050 new dwellings, and a road bridge spanning the North Kent Line.[3][43]

Churches

  • Church of England: St Augustine's Church[44]
  • Baptist: Slade Green Christian Fellowship[45]
 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Slade Green)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Hidden London". http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/slade-green/. Retrieved 7 September 2016. 
  2. ↑ Juby, Caroline. "London before London: Reconstructing a Palaeolithic Landscape". Royal Holloway, University of London. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/78863816.pdf. Retrieved 8 August 2018. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "London's Local History, Monday 30 March 2015". http://edithsstreets.blogspot.co.uk/2015_03_01_archive.html. Retrieved 12 September 2016. 
  4. ↑ Museum of London summary of archaeological work carried out in 1997 accessed 6 April 2008
  5. ↑ "Kent". http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/kent2.html#howbury. Retrieved 12 September 2016. 
  6. ↑ "Askell". domesdaybook.co.uk. http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/searchresults.html?q=askell&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&sa=Search&cx=partner-pub-4061928869268323%3Achbfv61x01j&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=ISO-8859-1&siteurl=www.domesdaybook.co.uk%2Fhampshire2.html&ss=748j118568j6. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 
  7. ↑ Roffe, David. "Brought to Book: Lordship and land in Anglo-Saxon England". http://www.roffe.co.uk/bookland.htm. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 
  8. ↑ Green, Judith (15 August 2002). The Aristocracy of Norman England. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521335096. https://books.google.com/books?id=BFGDIde6L-wC. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 
  9. ↑ "River Cray and Southern Marshes Area". Greater London Authority. http://www.london.gov.uk/file/465660. Retrieved 13 September 2016. 
  10. ↑ National Heritage List 1001986: Howbury moated site (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
  11. ↑ Bridge, Martin (2006). "Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Howbury Barn, Moat Lane, Slade Green, London Borough of Bexley" (PDF). Centre for Archaeology. http://research.historicengland.org.uk/redirect.aspx?id=5471%7CTree-Ring%20Analysis%20of%20Timbers%20from%20Howbury%20Barn,%20Moat%20Lane,%20Slade%20Green,%20London%20Borough%20of%20Bexley. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Kent Rail website page on Slade Green station accessed 6 March 2008
  13. ↑ Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Scotland First Series, 1805 accessed 10 September 2016
  14. ↑ {{brithist|51282 British History Online record of 'A Topographical Dictionary of England', Slackstead - Slawston] accessed 5 November 2007
  15. ↑ {{brithist|51183&strquery=northend British History Online record of 'A Topographical Dictionary of England', Normicott - North Holme] accessed 5 November 2007
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "'Sheet 003' in Map of Kent". Ordnance Survey, Southampton, 1869-1882. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/os-1-to-10560/kent/003. Retrieved 10 September 2016. 
  17. ↑ "Map abbreviations". https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/resources/maps-and-geographic-resources/map-abbreviations.html#b. Retrieved 12 September 2016. 
  18. ↑ Review of book 'An Illustrated History of Slade Green Depot Template:Webarchive accessed 27 June 2007
  19. ↑ commentary by person with family from the area at genealogy.com Template:Webarchive accessed 27 June 2007
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 [Oak Road Conservation Area Consultation Draft, Bexley Council February 2008] pdf version accessed 6 March 2008 at http://www.bexley.gov.uk/service/consultations/conservationareas_phase2/pdfs/oak_road_conservation_area.pdfTemplate:Dead link
  21. ↑ "Strawberry Pickers in a Field, Slade Green c.1905". 15 August 2012. http://www.boroughphotos.org/bexley/pcd_959/. Retrieved 8 September 2016. 
  22. ↑ Cufley, David. "Dartford Area Brickworks (map)". Cufley. http://cufley.co.uk/Dartbrkmap.pdf. Retrieved 14 September 2016. 
  23. ↑ "The Thames Ammunition Works". KSH History Forum. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2754.0. Retrieved 12 September 2016. 
  24. ↑ "Memoirs". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 119: 1444–1445. 1930. doi:10.1243/PIME_PROC_1930_119_027_02. 
  25. ↑ Buxton, Ian; Johnson, Ian (2013). The Battleship Builders Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships. Seaforth Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 9781848320932. https://books.google.com/books?id=5rhiBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Thames+Ammunition+Works%22&pg=PA202. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 
  26. ↑ Brayley Hodgetts (1909). The rise and progress of the British explosives industry. London, New York, Whittaker. p. 23. http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/international-congress-of-pure-and-applied-chemist/the-rise-and-progress-of-the-british-explosives-industry-hci/page-23-the-rise-and-progress-of-the-british-explosives-industry-hci.shtml. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 
  27. ↑ "Howbury Grange Farm, Slade Green 1905". London borough of Bexley. 15 August 2012. http://www.boroughphotos.org/bexley/pcd_1044/. Retrieved 10 February 2017. 
  28. ↑ "Howbury Grange moat 1910, Was in Crayford now in Slade Green". 15 August 2012. http://www.boroughphotos.org/bexley/phbos_2_991/. Retrieved 8 September 2016. 
  29. ↑ "The National Factory Scheme". Historic Environment Scotland. http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/sites/default/files/06%20The%20National%20Factory%20Scheme%20List.pdf. Retrieved 13 February 2017. 
  30. ↑ "The South Eastern Division's London Suburbs (map)". http://www.kentrail.org.uk/south_eastern_division_map.htm. Retrieved 13 September 2016. 
  31. ↑ Burnham, Tom. ""The Trench Warfare Light Railway" in Terrier Number 98 – Winter 2005". The Colonel Stephens Museum in Tenterden. http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/tenterden-terrier-index/terrier-volume-10/terrier-number-98--winter-2005. Retrieved 6 February 2017. 
  32. ↑ "Erith: WV Gilbert munitions disaster remembered". News Shopper. 26 February 2009. http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/bexley/4155024.ERITH__WV_Gilbert_munitions_disaster_remembered/. Retrieved 13 September 2016. 
  33. ↑ "Explosives Disaster. Twelve Persons Burnt to Death. Breaking Down Cartridges.", Derby Daily Telegraph (Derby, England), 18 February 1924, p.3
  34. ↑ "Disposal and Liquidation Commission". http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=3775038&catln=6. Retrieved 9 September 2016. 
  35. ↑ Jones, Ian (2016). London: Bombed Blitzed and Blown Up: The British Capital Under Attack Since 1867. Frontline Books. pp. 125–126. ISBN 9781473879027. https://books.google.com/books?id=TTawDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Slade+Green%22+Ammunition+Works&pg=PA125. 
  36. ↑ A Tragedy That Rocked The Nation on 'Whitstable Scene' Template:Webarchive accessed 1 October 2007
  37. ↑ "Trench Warfare Filling Factories". Grace's Guide Ltd.. http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Trench_Warfare_Filling_Factories. Retrieved 9 September 2016. 
  38. ↑ "Munition Factory Explosion (Slade Green)". Parliament. 25 February 1924. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1924/feb/25/munition-factory-explosion-slade-green. 
  39. ↑ "A short History of Slade Green". 26 June 2013. https://sladegreenbiglocal.wordpress.com/about-slade-green/a-short-hostory-of-slade-green/. Retrieved 9 September 2016. 
  40. ↑ "Plaque unveiled for men who saved Slade Green from devastation in the Blitz". 21 April 2011. http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/bexley/8985883.SLADE_GREEN__Local_war_heroes_honoured_by_their_community/. Retrieved 13 September 2016. 
  41. ↑ Thomas, E.O.Slade Green and the Crayford Marshes, Bexley Education and Leisure Services Directorate, 2001, ISBN 0-902541-55-2
  42. ↑ "Creeks: Howbury Manor, Slade Green, near Dartford Creek on Easter Sunday, 1935 (front view)". http://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/910638.html. Retrieved 8 September 2016. 
  43. ↑ "Bridge Road, Slade Green, 1961". Ideal Homes. http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/bexley/assets/galleries/slade-green/bridge-rd. 
  44. ↑ St Augustine's Church
  45. ↑ Slade Green Christian Fellowship
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