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Borough Green is a
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the borough of
Tonbridge and Malling Tonbridge and Malling is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Kent, England. The council is based at Kings Hill. The borough also includes the towns of Tonbridge an ...
in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, England. The central area is situated on the A25 road between
Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...
and
Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...
, with the M26 motorway running through the centre dividing Wrotham and Borough Green.


History


Pre-Roman

Two
Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...
rock shelters A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long or wide, rock shelters are alm ...
were found at Oldbury Hill some two miles west of Borough Green with flint tools from about 50,000 years BCE.


Roman remains

Roman cinerary urns were first found in Barrow Field off Staley's Road in 1839 but were reburied and lost to history.Borough Green Past and Present by Frank G Bangay 1994 In the 1880s there was a more important find on location north of the
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
where sand was being excavated. In 1898 a local archaeologist Benjamin Harrison of
Ightham Ightham ( ) is a parish and village in Kent, England, located approximately four miles east of Sevenoaks and six miles north of Tonbridge. The parish includes the hamlet of Ivy Hatch. Ightham is famous for the nearby medieval manor of Ightham M ...
persuaded the owners to stop destroying them. He called in George Payne who identified them as Roman. There was a Roman cemetery consisting of rows of cinerary urns six feet apart and two feet deep. The burials date from around the year 100 CE.


Historical inns

The first record of this name was in 1575, when it appears as Borrowe Grene. Middle English grene means village green The name itself is much older. It is not known if this from Old English ''burh'' 'manor, borough' or from ''beorg'' 'hill, mound'. The name of the community describes what it originally was – a green to which the people of the area went for sports and games. There is also a view that "borough", which predates any borough council in the area, relates to the word barrow, possibly referring to the Roman remains near the station site. Its location at a crossroads with the old route from
Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...
to
Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
meant that inns were gradually opened. The ''Red Lion'', originally the "White Bear", first mentioned in 1586, is now closed. The 1592 ''Black Bull'' became the ''Black Horse'', then ''The Black Horse and Hooden'', and recently ''The Black Horse'' again. ''The Bull'' of 1753 survives, but the "Red Lion", ''Fox and Hounds'' (1837) and ''The Rock'' (1860) have been turned into private housing. The Red Lion building still exists as part of the Red Lion Square housing development. The Fox and Hounds and the Rock were demolished to make way for Foxlea and Tavern Close respectively. The 1878 ''Railway Hotel'', later ''The Henry Simmonds'', is now a
Sainsbury's Local Sainsbury's Local (a trading name of Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd) is a chain of 820 convenience shops operated by the UK's second largest supermarket chain Sainsbury's. History In 1998, Sainsbury's piloted its first Local shop in Hammersmith. ...
food store.


Nineteenth century

In Borough Green there were 360 residents in 1841, 241 in 1861, 232 in 1871. The village expanded after the railway opened and in 1891 there were 682 inhabitants. The
London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England. It was created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through Lond ...
opened a line to Maidstone on 1 June 1874, and a station named ''Wrotham and Borough Green'' was built. Later the names were reversed to Borough Green and Wrotham, in line with the position of the station within Borough Green, and the fact that Borough Green had outgrown Wrotham. An infant school was built on the direction of the local school board in 1875 to the design of architect Robert Wheeler.A Friendly Glimpse by Frank G Bangay 1989 Western Road was planned in 1877 after the sale of 56 acres of land by the Tomlyn family between the High Street and Fairfield. Town gas was provided by the Wrotham and Borough Green Gas Co from 1880 and in 1904 was taken over by the Mid Kent Gas Light and Coke Company. The River Bourne flows through the southern part of the parish. It once powered a paper mill at Basted.


Recent history

Piped water came from the Mid Kent Water Company in 1900. Kent Electric Power Company brought electricity in 1930. During the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...
,
Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...
flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...
Ludwik Paszkiewicz was killed when his
Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...
fighter was shot down by a
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
Bf 109 on 27 September 1940. A memorial stone dedicated to Paszkiewicz was unveiled in 2018, at Crowhurst Farm in Borough Green, close to where he was shot down.


Basted Mills Public Open Space

This area of 18.33 acres is a mile south from the centre of the town and is on the border of 4 parishes: Borough Green, Ightham, Platt and Plaxtol. It includes the old mill pond, two meadows and woodland with picnic areas and woodland walks. There is no parking area. The site of Basted Paper Mill, the mill records go back to 1438 when it was probably a water mill for grinding corn.''Ightham at the Crossroads'' by Jean Stirk and David Williams published by Red Court Publishing, copyright Ightham Parish Council, Jean Stirk and David Williams, 2015. ISBN 978-0-9930828-0-1 Walter Monckton bought the mill in 1857, a grandfather of Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. The Monckton family lived in Kent since the Late 16th Century. There has been a paper mill on the site for 200 years. Monckton rebuilt the mill in 1875. The mill was rebuilt following a fire in 1917 and worked on steam power until 1960, and closed after damage in floods in 1968.The mill supplied paper for postage stamps. A small housing area was built on the site at the end of the 20th Century.


Governance

There are three tiers of local government covering Borough Green, at
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
,
district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
and
county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
level: Borough Green Parish Council, Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council and
Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...
. The parish council meets at the village hall on High Street. Borough Green was historically part of the parish of
Wrotham Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 motorway, M20 and M26 motorway, M26 motorways. History T ...
. In 1863 the parish was made a
local government district Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...
, governed by a local board. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894. Although named after Wrotham, the urban district council was always based in Borough Green, which was growing to become the largest settlement in the parish following the opening of the railway station in 1874. The council met at the Railway Hotel on Wrotham Road (now Sainsbury's) until 1902, then at a converted house it leased at 2 Sevenoaks Road from 1902 until 1924, before building its own headquarters at 16–18 Maidstone Road in 1924. Wrotham Urban District was abolished in 1934, with the area being absorbed into Malling Rural District and divided into the parishes of Borough Green (which also took some territory from
Ightham Ightham ( ) is a parish and village in Kent, England, located approximately four miles east of Sevenoaks and six miles north of Tonbridge. The parish includes the hamlet of Ivy Hatch. Ightham is famous for the nearby medieval manor of Ightham M ...
), Platt, Plaxtol and Wrotham. Malling Rural District in turn was abolished in 1974 to become part of Tonbridge and Malling.


Sports

Borough Green is home to the British Racing and Sports Car Club, one of the major organisers of motorsports events in the United Kingdom. The village's main football team is Potters Football Club of the Sevenoaks & District Premier Division, which fields one men's team. It has close ties with Borough Green Junior Football Club, which is also located in the village.


Churches

Several denominations have places of worship in Borough Green: *Anglican –
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
: The Church of the Good Shepherd, Quarry Hill Road. Before 1875 Church of England members walked to Wrotham, Ightham, Platt or Plaxtol to go to Church. From that year services were held in the new Church of England Infants School. The foundation stone of the Church of the Good Shepherd was laid by Emmeline St. Tour, Countess Torrington on 9 January 1906 and consecrated by the
Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...
, Dr John Harmer on 5 July 1906. The Architects were Monckton and Gillespie. :Borough Green did not become a separate Church of England parish until 1973. Before that the village was divided into three church parishes. Most of the village was in Wrotham parish. The part in Ightham parish started at the junction of Rock road and the A25 and included everything West of Rock Road. After 1843 part of the village was in Platt parish and the Black Horse Inn marked the boundary. *Baptist – Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East): Borough Green Baptist Church, High Street. The land the chapel now stands on was purchased in 1816. Described as ‘wasteland’, it was sold as an outcome of the Enclosure Acts passed in 1814. It was purchased for twenty two pounds and ten shillings”. The chapel was opened for divine wor- ship in the spring of 1817. *
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
– St Joseph's, Western Road. The old village hall was built on this site in 1927. It was purchased by the diocese of Southwark in 1965. In 2017 a purpose-built church was officially opened on the site of the old building which had been demolished to make way for the new church.


Amenities

The village and nearby communities are served by Borough Green Primary School. The Medical Centre on Quarry Hill Road, opened in 1993 provides GP care. The first recorded practitioners in Borough Green were Dr AA Lipscomb and the Walker family. The library was started in 1922 at the council school. it moved several times and finally to its purpose built building in 1977. The Fire Brigade was founded in 1934. The modern Fire Station in Western Road was opened in 1964. The Village Hall was built in 1964–65. It serves as a polling station during elections. Borough Green had branches of two nationwide retail banks, both of which closed in 2017. The former NatWest building on High Street is now
Costa Coffee Costa Limited, trading as Costa Coffee, is a coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, England, that operates in the United Kingdom and 37 other countries. Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa (co ...
. There are branches of the Co-op,
Sainsbury's Local Sainsbury's Local (a trading name of Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd) is a chain of 820 convenience shops operated by the UK's second largest supermarket chain Sainsbury's. History In 1998, Sainsbury's piloted its first Local shop in Hammersmith. ...
and Nisa. Borough Green Post Office on the High Street is located in Nisa. There are several independent retailers and teashops.


Notable people

* Catherine Crowe (1803–1876), novelist and playwright, was born Catherine Ann Stevens in Borough Green. * Richard Dixon (1930–2021), a chemist who worked on the thermal and optical properties of matter, was born in Borough Green. * Richard Hearne (1908–1979), actor, comedian and writer, most famous as Mr Pastry a comical children's character, lived at Platt's Farm, Long Mill Lane in nearby St Mary Platt from the 1940s.''Kent and Sussex Courier'', 15 October 2010
Retrieved 13 March 2014.
* Denton Welch (1915–1948), author and artist


References

*''The Kent Village Book'', Alan Bignell, published by Countryside Books in 1986 *''Borough Green Primary School website'': ww.bgpschool.kent.sch.uk/ Retrieved 8 September 2018*''Borough Green Past and Present'', published in 1994 and available in the Borough Green branch of Kent County Council Library


External links


Borough Green Parish CouncilBorough Green community website
{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent Tonbridge and Malling