St Paul's Cray

The area

The village includes a small parade of shops, as well as part of the industrial estate on Cray Avenue that connects to its sister St Mary Cray. The former Broomwood pub is now a McDonald's and lies on the main road. Like St Mary Cray, St Paul's Cray is home to a large ex-traveller community as well as many descendants of Irish travellers who moved south from Bermondsey after the docks shut. The local football team, Cray Wanderers F.C., is one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Cray Wanderers were looking to return to the area at Sandy Lane. In September 2013, permission to develop Sandy Lane was refused by LB Bromley. Cray Wanderers announced on 6 October 2014 an intention to purchase Flamingo Park, adjacent to the A20 Sidcup by-pass, subject to receiving planning permission from LB Bromley for a football stadium and sports centre to be built there.

History

Though modern in appearance, St Paul’s Cray has an ancient history. Romans camped along the banks of the river, and even earlier settlements are suggested by the mysterious dene holes, caverns shaped in the chalk, which have been found on either side of the valley. Sir Simon de Cray held the manor in the time of Edward I. He took his name from St Paul’s Cray. He was knighted for his part in the Scottish wars. He became Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1275.

The name St Paul’s Cray has no direct connection with St Paul the Apostle; it is simply an abbreviation of St Paulinus Cray. The 11th-century church, made redundant in 1978 but now occupied by the Redeemed Christian Church of God, is sited on Main Road on the attractive riverside section of the St Paul’s Cray Conservation Area. From its structural form, it would appear to be a possibly Saxon foundation and certainly earlier than the thirteenth-century St Mary’s. A rare dedication suggests that a church could have occupied the site in the early seventh century. (Paulinus was an early Christian missionary, and a close contemporary of Augustine who subsequently became Archbishop of York and Bishop of Rochester.)

The area was known in the 16th century as Paul Crey. William Camden born in 1551 writes in a 1610 travel guide in a section on Kent: "Here the riverlet Crey, anciently called Crecan , intermingleth it selfe with Darent, ? when in his short course he hath imparted his name to five townlets which hee watereth,as Saint Marie Crey, Pauls Crey, Votes-Crey, North Crey,? and Crey-ford in former ages Crecanford, where Hengest the Saxon, the eighth yeare after his arrivall, joyned battaile with the Britans, and after hee had slaine their captaines brought them under with so great a slaughter that afterwards hee never stood in feare of them, but established his kingdome quietly in Kent."

While some development has taken place on the east side of the old village, open country with a belt of woodland extends to the hamlet of Hockenden and the borough boundary. On the west side, a large housing estate to accommodate 10,000 of London’s overspill has swallowed up farm and woodland since the Second World War. This new township which extends as far west as Chislehurst Common has its own shopping centre, churches, schools, library and industrial estate. Sports facilities are found at the recreation ground, with Hoblingwell Wood to the rear.

Geography

St Paul's Cray falls within the London Borough of Bromley and borders the London Borough of Bexley. Close nearby areas include Orpington, Sidcup, Swanley, Bromley and Bexleyheath.

Transport

St Pauls Cray is served by Transport for London bus routes 51 to Woolwich via Sidcup and to Orpington, 273 to Lewisham via Grove Park and to Petts Wood, B14 to Bexleyheath via Sidcup and to Orpington, R1 to Green Street Green, and R11 to Sidcup and Green Street Green. The nearest rail link to St Paul's Cray is at St Mary Cray station.