Goddington
Goddington, Bromley
The south-eastern part of Orpington, built up during the late 1920s and 1930s
Goddington was once a small manor in the parish of Chelsfield, first recorded in the 13th century as the property of Simon de Godyngton. His family came from a hamlet near Ashford in Kent, now spelt Godinton, where he also held the manor of Great Chart.
In 1461 Edward Poynings inherited the manor, at the age of eleven. Henry VII later knighted him and made him lieutenant of Ireland.
The manor of Goddington grew to include parts of the parishes of Orpington and St Mary Cray, remaining an area of corn and hop fields until after the First World War.
Goddington House was built in 1893 for James Harris, whose ancestors were lords of the manor of Orpington from the late Middle Ages. The architect was William West Neve, a pupil of R Norman Shaw.
The Park Avenue estate was laid out from 1926, when Gravel Pit Cottages were demolished to make way for Spur Road and the tree-lined drive that had led to Goddington House became Park Avenue.
Goddington House was divided into 13 flats in the 1930s and was acquired in 1982 by the Methodist Ministers’ Housing Society for use as a retirement home. The society recently added three more flats, modernised others for sale on the open market and changed the house’s name to Goddington Manor.
Orpington sports club was based in Goddington from the 1930s. When St Olave’s grammar school took over its Goddington Lane site in 1968, the sports club moved to the 23-acre Goddington Dene, south of the park. Westcombe Park rugby football club moved here in 1990 and became the controlling force within the sports club.
Part of Goddington Park is protected chalk grassland, and mesolithic tools have been found here.
Postcode area: Orpington BR6