Kevington, sometimes spelt Kevingtown, is a hamlet in southeast

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, located in the

London Borough of Bromley The London Borough of Bromley () is the southeasternmost of the London boroughs that make up Greater London, bordering the ceremonial county of Kent, which most of Bromley was part of before 1965. The borough's population is an estimated 332,3 ...

. It lies between St Mary Cray/ Derry Downs and

Crockenhill Crockenhill is a village in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 1 mile south of Swanley and 4.5 miles north east of Orpington, adjacent to the Kent border with Greater London. Etymology Crockenhill is from Old English ''hyll'' ...

in the

London Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

History

The name is thought to refer either to a 'place on a hillock', or else a Saxon-era landowner named Cyfa. Some old maps show two distinct places here - Kevington and Kevingtown - however this distinction has since been lost. Lord Simon de

Manning Manning (a.k.a. Mannion, Manning) is a family name. Origin and meaning Manning is from an old Norse word — manningi — meaning a brave or valiant man; and one of the first forms of the name was Mannin; another cartography was Mannyg ...

, a former Lord of the Manor for Kevington, London, (which included

Single Street Single Street is a hamlet in the London Borough of Bromley in Greater London, located between Luxted and Berry's Green,Willey, Russ. ''Chambers London Gazetter'', p 443. and centred around a street of the same name. The first record of a settl ...

Luxted Luxted is a hamlet in the London Borough of Bromley, located to the south of Downe. The area is rural, noted for its abundance of woods and grasslands.Willey, Russ. ''Chambers London Gazetter'', p 307-308. It is a part of the largest ward in Grea ...

, Cudham,

Downe Downe, formerly Down, () is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley but beyond the London urban sprawl. Downe is south west of Orpington and south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies on a hill, and ...

, and Berry's Green), and grandson to Rudolf de Manning, (who married Elgida, aunt to King Harold 1,

Harold Harefoot Harold I (died 17 March 1040), also known as Harold Harefoot, was King of the English from 1035 to 1040. Harold's nickname "Harefoot" is first recorded as "Harefoh" or "Harefah" in the twelfth century in the history of Ely Abbey, and according ...

), of England); he was the royal

Standard Bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

to King

Richard the Lionheart Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

. He carried the royal Standard to Jerusalem, in 1190, during the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...

. In the Middle Ages the area formed part of Kevington manor and was in the hands of the

and

Onslow (surname) Onslow is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Onslow (1842–1908), third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia * Arthur Onslow (disambiguation) * Cranley Onslow (1926–2001), British politician * Denz ...

families. In the mid 1700s the Onslows sold part of their lands to the Dutch financial merchant Herman Behrens, who employed

Sir Robert Taylor Sir Robert Taylor (1714–1788) was an English architect and sculptor who worked in London and the south of England. Early life Born at Woodford, Essex, Taylor followed in his father's footsteps and started working as a stonemason and sculptor ...

to build him Kevington Hall in 1769. The Hall was used to billet Canadian troops during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and was later used as a primary school; it now functions as a conference and events space. Oak View School (originally Shawcroft Special School) opened nearby in 1976 to cater for young people with special needs. There was once a pub in the hamlet called the Kevington Arms, however this is now a farm building.

References

Districts of the London Borough of Bromley Hamlets in the London Borough of Bromley St Mary Cray {{London-geo-stub