Visit Hextable Places

Welcome to Visit Hextable Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Hextable

  

Hextable Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Hextable

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Hextable history

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The origin of the village name goes back to Saxon times. Its first documented appearance is in 1203 when the land is referred to as Hagestaple. Staple is from the Old English (O.E.) word “stapol,” or boundary post. This makes perfect sense as the land was on the boundary of the Saxon settlements of Dartford, Bromley and Sutton at Hone. The word Hage is less clear. One theory is that it is descended from the O.E. word for high: “Hey.” But the land on the Birchwood side of Hextable, where the post would have been, is not high, at least compared with nearby Rowhill and Swanley Village, and it is hard to see how Hage would have derived from Hey. The O.E. word “hage” meant a hedge, an enclosure or hawthorn, any of which could have been a means of uniquely delineating the boundary post in some way. The means by which Hagestaple became Hextable is in contrast well-documented: 13th century Hagestaple (1203 Roll of Rents) 14th century Hegestaple (1315 Bill of Sale of Highlands Manor of which Hegestaple was a part) 18th century Hackstaple (Various maps, including Hasted’s History of Kent) 19th century Hackstable (1868 Ordnance Survey Map) 20th century Hextable (1895 OS map and many other documents). The village grew up in late Victorian times with the selling off of Hextable Farm in 1870 (prior to this there were only three houses on the land that now comprises the village). It was originally set up as an area for the well-to-do to live in fine villas. Many of these villas are still standing, although two, Southbank and Newbank in College Road, were recently demolished to make way for flats and townhouses. The village’s to-date most famous resident, Arthur Mee, known for the Children’s Encyclopedia, lived in one such villa, St David’s. His most famous utterance on his home village was the withering, although a little inaccurate, statement “Hextable has no history!” The village quickly grew beyond being just a retreat for the upper middle class with the coming of the railway at nearby Swanley Junction coupled with the fertility of the land and the mild climate. Nurseries were established in the area with their produce being quickly sent to London via rail. Many of the names of these now long-gone nurseries still persist in road names such as Emerson and Panters. Emersons Avenue was built upon “The Rec”, an old recreation ground left by a resident in Victorian times “for the use of the children of the village in perpetuity”. It is consistent with the fast-changing nature of Hextable that perpetuity only lasted 100 years. The railway drove the expansion of the village in the 20th century as a convenient dormitory village for north-west Kent and London, and this is its main purpose today. Much of the initial development of the village in the early 20th century was memorialised in a collection of photographs from a village resident, Christopher Casstine. He was an orphan brought up in the Homes For Little Boys (opened in Hextable by the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, in 1883 and still standing as Furness School) who stayed on in the village opening up a photography studio on the main road to Swanley. His photographs were used for many of the local postcards as well as for Mee’s Children’s Encyclopedia. His name lives on in the road Casstine Close. The disorderly growth of the village explains the rather jumbled architecture that dominates the village. Hextable House, which was the only house in the village for much of its life, was bombed in the Second World War and wantonly torn down. The Avenue of Limes which was planted in Elizabethan times as a magnificent entranceway to the House still remains linking New Barn Road and College Road. There has been some replanting of the trees in recent years, and its full beauty can now be appreciated for half of its length, although the remaining half should be visible in the near future. The gardens of the old House, as would have been seen in its final role as an agricultural college, are kept up with the aid of Lottery money at the Hextable Heritage Centre. The outskirts of Hextable largely comprise farmland, stables and small woodland areas. The village has three churches: Anglican – St Peter’s, part of the united benefice with St Paul, Swanley Village Methodist – part of the North Kent Circuit Pentecostal Notably, there are no pubs within the village, due to restrictions placed by former landowners in the late 19th century, although there are pubs to be found on its woodland outskirts. According to the census in 2001, Hextable has one of the highest percentage number of households with two or more cars in the country.

You can visit Hextable places with Walkfo Hextable to hear history at Hextable’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Hextable has 34 places to visit in our interactive Hextable map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Hextable, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Hextable places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Hextable & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 34 audio facts unique to Hextable places in an interactive Hextable map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Hextable Places Map
34 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Hextable historic spots	Hextable tourist destinations	Hextable plaques	Hextable geographic features
Walkfo Hextable tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Hextable

  

Best Hextable places to visit

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Hextable has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Hextable’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Hextable’s information audio spots:

Stansfeld F.C. Stansfeld Oxford & Bermondsey Club Football Club is based in Chislehurst, Greater London. They are currently members of the Southern Counties East League Division One.

Eltham Palace F.C. Eltham Palace Football Club was a football club based in Chislehurst, Greater London, England. The club was based at the time of the 1950s and 1960s.

Orpington F.C. First team play at Green Court Sports Club in Crockenhill, London. The club is a semi-professional football club based in Orpington, Greater London.

F.C. Elmstead Elmstead are a semi-professional football club based in Elmstead, London. They groundshare at Sutton Athletic’s Lower Road ground in Hextable. They are currently members of the Southern Counties East League Division One.

Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley is a civil parish within the Borough of Dartford in Kent. It consists of the two settlements named, both to the west of the River Darent, one of the parish boundaries. It has a population of 4,133, increasing to 4,230 at the 2011 Census.

Swanley Village Swanley Village is a village in the Sevenoaks District of Kent. It is located 1 mile north east of Swanley & 4.7 miles south west of Dartford.

Visit Hextable plaques