Foots Cray Place, Sidcup, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest: 

A site consisting of two mid 18th century landscape parks incorporated into one estate in the early 19th century then subsequently re-divided. The gardens around Foots Cray Place were laid out to the design of William Sawrey Gilpin in 1822-1823 and redesigned by Thomas H Mawson in 1903.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

The 89 hectare site of Foots Cray Place lies between the old settlements of Foots Cray and North Cray. It is bounded to the north-west and south-east by residential developments and schools; to the south by an industrial complex; to the south-west by Rectory Lane; to the north-west by Bexley Lane; and to the east by North Cray Road. The site slopes down to the River Cray and Foots Cray Meadows to the east; towards the north of the park are the remains of North Cray Wood. The ground to the north-west, although now school playing fields, retains some mature trees from Foots Cray Place.

REFERENCES

Society of Gentlemen, England Displayed 1, (1769), p 144

G A Walpoole, New British Traveller (1784), pl after p 22

H Boswell, Historical descriptions of new and picturesque views (1800)

J P Neale, Views of the Seats ... 2nd Sers 4, (1828)

G Virtue, Picturesque beauties of Great Britain: Kent (1829), p 2

W H Ireland, History ... of Kent 4, (1830), p 524

Architectural Review 9, (1901), p 267; 27, (1910), pp 102-104

Building News 87, (1904), p 684, pl 4; 92, (1907), pp 848-849

J Roy Horticultural Soc 34, (1908-1909), p 376, fig 67

Studio Year Book, (1906), p 257; (1907), p 183; (1913), p 125; (1917), pp 10, 54

The Architect 77, (1907), p 364

Architectural Record 30, (1911), p 346

T H Mawson, The Art and Craft of Garden Making (5th edn 1926)

T H Mawson, The Life and Work of an English Landscape Architect (1927)

S Piebenga, William Sawrey Gilpin, (English Heritage Designer theme study 1994)

Maps

Sale particulars for Foots Cray Place, 1822 (Bexley Local Studies Library)

Tithe map, 1840 (Centre for Kentish Studies)

Estate plan of Foots Cray Place, 1854 (Bexley Local Studies Centre)

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1868

1916 edition

1938 edition

Description written: September 1997

Edited: June 2001