Wilmington is a village and

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 Dartford The Borough of Dartford is a local government district with borough status in the north-west of the county of Kent, England. It is named after its main town of Dartford, where the council is based. Other notable settlements include Greenhithe ...

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. It is located 2.7 miles south of

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

, 3.5 miles north of

Swanley Swanley is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2021 ce ...

and 4.3 miles south east of

Bexleyheath Bexleyheath is a town in southeast London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley. It had a population of approximately 15,600 in 2021 and is southeast of Charing Cross. It is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in London ...

, adjacent to the Kent border with

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

History

Wilmington is believed to have been the site of a major

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

settlement and a place where the Cantii tribe fought Roman invaders near Leyton Cross and Joyden's Wood. In the reign of

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

, a manor house in the village was a residence of the king-making

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, 6th Earl of Salisbury (22 November 1428 – 14 April 1471), known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, landowner of the House of Neville fortune and military c ...

. In the 19th century Wilmington was noted for being surrounded by gardens and cherry orchards. In the 1970s the village was bisected by the A2 dual carriageway.

Notable residents

Wilmington is perhaps most famous for being the childhood home of

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

, lead singer with the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

. An earlier resident was Sir James Whitehead, whose family grave is in the village churchyard. He was Lord Mayor of London c.1888-9 and he lived for a number of years in the Manor, which was an early part of the girls' school. Two daughters, Leila and Florence, lived at Hazlewood in Rowhill and they founded the mission in Broad Lane.

Transport

Rail

The nearest

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

stations to Wilmington are

, Bexley &

Buses

*429 to

or to

West Kingsdown West Kingsdown is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England, on the A20 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Swanley, 5.5 miles (9 km) northeast of Sevenoaks and from London. The area The parish was part of Axst ...

via Joydens Wood,

Farningham Farningham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located south-east of Swanley. It has a population of 1,314. History Farningham is believed to be home to Neolithic human occupancy – flint and othe ...

. Monday to Saturday. Operated by

Go-Coach Go-Coachhire Limited, trading as Go-Coach, is a bus operator running a total of 40 bus services (including school services) across Kent and Sussex. The majority of these services are operated on behalf of Kent County Council from their depot in ...

. *477 to Dartford or to

Orpington Orpington is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary Cray, sou ...

via

Hextable Hextable is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies north of Swanley and south of Dartford. History The origin of the village name goes back to Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. Its first documented appearanc ...

, Swanley,

Crockenhill Crockenhill is a village in the Sevenoaks District of West Kent, England. The hamlet of Skeet Hill falls within the Crockenhill boundary and Skeet Hill Lane in Orpington is in the South East region of England. The postcode is within the Crocke ...

St Mary Cray St Mary Cray is an area of South London, South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Historically it was a market town in the county of Kent. It is located north of Orpington, and south-east of Charing Cross. History ...

. Monday to Saturday. Operated by Arriva Kent Thameside. *B12 to

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north ...

via Bexley,

Northumberland Heath Northumberland Heath is an area of South East London, England within the London Borough of Bexley. It is located south of Erith and north of Bexleyheath. History The area was once known as Spike Island after the workhouse that was situated the ...

or to Joydens Wood. Operated by Go Ahead London for

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

Sport

Wilmington Cricket Club has been a part of the village for over 100 years and has had many successes in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, playing at Lords twice and winning many competitions over the years. They currently play in the Kent Regional Cricket League and the home ground is in Oakfield Park. Wilmington used to have a successful football club whose history, in the form of trophies and shields, is displayed in the Wilmington Pavilion on Oakfield Lane. In 2014, Richard Moore, a resident of Wilmington, started a new Wilmington FC team playing in the North Kent Sunday League. In their first season they won the League Three title as well as the League A cup.

Schools

There are three secondary schools within the parish: Wilmington Grammar School for Boys (WGSB), whose students wear blue blazers, white shirts, grey trousers and different ties for each house within the school (these colours are red, green, white, black, yellow and purple, after the houses Telford, Stephenson, Darwin, Newton, Hawing, and Brunel ); Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (WGSG) formally The Grammar School for Girls Wilmington (GSGW), where the uniforms are maroon jumpers and skirts and a sky-blue revere collar blouse; and the mixed-sex Wilmington Academy (formerly Wilmington Hall), whose pupils wear black blazers. Wilmington Academy and 'Wilmington Boys' are situated near Common Lane While 'Wilmington Girls' is situated on the nearby Parsons Lane. The academy was built in the mid-1970s on the site of Wilmington Hall Manor and is a specialist centre of excellence for both business and vocational courses. Wilmington Grammar School for Boys has

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

specialist status. Wilmington Grammar School for Girls specialises in mathematics and computing. There is one

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the village, Wilmington Primary School, and another in Joydens Wood Estate; a nursery school is situated next to Wilmington Academy. Three of the schools in the village (WGSB, WGSB, and Wilmington Primary) are part of the Endeavour Mat trust, which also includes Stone lodge, a school located in nearby Stone. The Dartford Campus of North West Kent College is accessed via Oakfield Lane, Wilmington,Only the westbound lane and properties to the south of the road lie within Wilmington parish but its grounds lie within Dartford.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Kent Borough of Dartford Civil parishes in Kent