Shuttle - Tributory to Cray and Darent. Bridgen

River Shuttle, tributary to the Cray, which is a tributary to Darent, itself a Thames Tributary
The Shuttle continues to flow east towards the Cray
TQ 47690 74263

Suburban area with woodland and parks and some older buildings among the endless inter war housing.

Post to the west Blendon
Post to the north Upton
Post to the east Bexley
Post to the south North Cray

Arbuthnot Lane
Bridgen Place. demolished when this road was built. Built by William Cope in the 18th and later the home of Edward Cokayne Frith. Arbuthnot was a later owner.

Bexley Woods
This tract of coppiced hornbeam trees is extensive. And the woods ascend gradually eastwards. .
River Shuttle. Pebble deposits occur in the centre of the river bed, and these are called "Channel Bars.”

Bexley Park
Tanyard Farm. West of Bexley Park Wood. Farmed by the Watkins family. The Shuttle ran in front of the house.
‘Bexley Park Wood’ is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1876. The name probably comes from the enclosed deer park. And the home in Bexley of Henry Castelayn, the keeper of the Archbishops' parks, warrens and chases in the 15th,

Blendon Road
Blendon Hall Estate, purchased for development by D C Bowyer, late 1930s.
Three Blackbirds pub. Licesnsed since 1717.  Charringtons since 1941. Extended in 1983.  

Bridgen Road
Bridgen was a medieval hamlet owned by Kendall of the Wax Chandlers Company. A Charity was set up with income from properties in this area. Bridgen Place was the first estate t9 be sold in the 1930s for development of semi-detached houses in Arbuthnot Lane.
1/11 Two groups of cottages 1820s.
13, a small but tall detached house, dated 1827.
Blue Anchor – had been the Anchor and Cable from 1681. from 1713  it was the Anchor and 1729 Blue Anchor and informally as The Snake and Pickaxe.  Owned  by the Dartford Brewery Co Rebuilt in 1938 because the brewery wanted a bigger building because of the new A2.  Old building became a cafe.
Kenneth Noye lived there.

Davenport Road
V2 in a field -injured 26. This was the 160th rocket to land on English soil,

Hurst Road
Victorian houses which were homes of wealthy businessmen. One of these was the Chairman of the Chatham and South Eastern Railway Company which had built the Dartford Loop Line.
Glenhurst Estate 1938. The gates come from large Victorian Villas. The Estate was developed on a large field on the south side of the road, part of Oxford University's Bexley Estate, separated from its Upper College Farm by the Railway.
189 The Lodge
Holy Trinity Church Hall3 Universal House
Congregational (now United Reformed) Church at the junction 1890

Parkhill Road
Developments in the 1930s
Marl House. Weather-boarded with wooden fence. Demolished for replacement in 1891. The new house was for Hargreaves Rogers, Sheriff of the City of London and a leading player in Bexley affairs. Itself demolished in 1962 to make way/or a housing development
Victorian pillar box
Gad Bridge

Parkhurst Estate
Villas for the well to do, mature trees in long rear gardens. Interesting chimney stacks and dormers.

Rail line
The Dartford Loop descends from Sidcup in a cutting as it descends to near sea level.

Riverdale Road
Shuttle Riverway. Grassed on both sides. Rapidly flowing sections of the river are called "Riffles,” and deeper, more tranquil sections called "Pools.” Towards the down-stream end the river is cutting into the bank in a number of places, exposing sediments which may date from the Ice Age.

Sources 
Bexley Council. Shuttle Riverway,
Bexley guide,
Hamilton-Barr and Reilly. Country to Suburb

Spurgeon. Discover Bexley and Sidcup

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