Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BEXLEY

BEXLEY, a village, a parish, and a subdistrict, in the district of Dartford, Kent. The village stands on the Cray river, and on the Lee and Dartford railway, 3 miles W of Dartford; has a r. station with telegraph, a post office under London SE, and a fair on 13 Sept.; and gave the title of Baron to the Vansittarts. The parish includes Bexley-Heath and three hamlets. Acres, 5,025. Real property, £25,284. Pop., 4,944. Houses, 1,002. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged, in the Saxon times, to the see of Canterbury; was alienated, by Cranmer, to Henry VIII.; granted, by James I., to Sir John Spielman; sold by Spielman to Camden the antiquary; and bequeathed by Camden to University college, Oxford, for maintaining a professorship of history. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £592.* Patron, Viscount Sydney. The church is chiefly early English, with later windows. The vicarage of Bexley-Heath and the p. curacy of Lamorbey are separate benefices. There are a national school, an infant school, alms-houses with £100 a year, and other charities £104.-The subdistrict comprises four parishes. Acres, 12,969. Pop., 13,026.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a subdistrict"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Bexley CP/AP       Bexley SubD       Kent AncC
Place: Bexley

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.