WELLING WEBSITE

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WELLING WEBSITE

WELCOME TO WELLING

Welling is located in the London Borough of Bexley. It is a suburban development situated between Shooter's Hill and Bexleyheath on the A2 road and 10.5 miles (16.9 km) east south-east of Charing Cross in London.

It incorporates the local parishes of East Wickham, Falconwood, Danson and St Michaels.

It is probably one of the oldest settlements in this area. A Neolithic stone axe was found in East Wickham in 1910 and more recently in 1989 the remains of Roman buildings were unearthed near Danson.

Welling is home to a football ground Welling United F.C. which is also shared with the Erith and Belvedere F.C., a refurbished reference and lending library with a community meeting room, free use of Internet and toilets, a Masonic Hall, a Martial Arts Academy, an Academy of Performing Arts, a Snooker Hall, Bellegrove Social Club, an Age Concern pop-in parlour, and a Salvation Army Chapel.


Park View Road ground, home of Welling United Football ClubWelling as a shopping area has plenty to offer such as several restaurants and take aways outlets, a range of fashion, sports, entertainment, and IT shops, betting shops, charity shops, fast-food takeaways, cafés, tea shops, estate agents, banks, a Post Office, bakeries, bike and flower shops,a reptile shop, pubs and barbers all lining Welling High Street (ancient Watling Street), Upper Wickham Lane, and Bellegrove Road and several local supermarkets, namely: Iceland, Morrison's, Shell (petrol station), Lidl and a well stocked Turkish Food Centre (TFC).

Plans submitted by a local developer to redevelop Embassy Court in Welling High Street were approved by Bexley Council. In its place, a new Tesco foodstore will replace the old one that defined the eastern side of the drab two-storey square precinct. An underground car park and upper-floors of private and social flats will be incorporated. Embassy Court and Tesco supermarket were demolished during 2008. With permission from the site developers, a PCA (Pre-Construction Archeology) team did some digging of the car park area of former Embassy Court in search of Roman remains, possibly of a Roman road. Construction work proceeded thereafter.

The Co-op Superstore opposite (formerly operated by the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society) ceased trading on the 19th September 2008 and was redeveloped as a Morrison's supermarket that opened on Monday 16 November 2009. A new Tesco supermarket is currently being developed, replacing the old group of independent shops at Embassy Court opposite Morrison's.

The former Foster's School building in Upper Wickham Lane is a local landmark. The school relocated to Westbrooke Road in Welling and its original site was converted to residential use (retaining the old Grade II listed main school building and headmaster's house). Further north of the original site is an ancient church, now used by a Greek Orthodox congregation.


Russian Cannon from Crimean War, located at Welling Corner.A large Russian gun is located at Welling corner. This Russian weapon is a 36 pounder carronade (calibre 6.75 inches - weight 17cwt) of a type used during the Crimean War (1854 to 1860), displayed on a simple wooden replica carriage. The carronade was in service from 1780 to 1860 and is now on loan from the Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich as a reminder of Welling's early association with the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, when huts at East Wickham were built as homes for munitions workers in the Great War.

Welling was, for a time, headquarters to the British National Party(BNP), whose building was the centre of several violent anti-racist protests in the early 1990s.[citation needed] One protest in September 1993 was 50,000 strong, and their presence brought the town unwanted notoriety.[citation needed] A post-office box address in Welling was still in use by the BNP in 1999, and, alongside the Labour Party (UK) the Conservative Party (UK) and the Liberal Democrats, they continue to field candidates in local elections.

In 1992 a group of Local people revived the old War Memorial Hall Trust which was set up in 1921. In 1995 it started operation as a local grant-giving charity called the East Wickham & Welling War Memorial Trust, using the revenue from the old Memorial Hall to fund grants in the area. Its main aim is the remembrance of the 105 men of the district who were killed in World War One, so a new War Memorial was built in St Michael's Church in 1996. Its charitable aim is to help local groups with rents for their meeting places, and to help groups to maintain their halls. Other grants help young people taking part in adventurous activities. In 2006 it gave grants totaling £47,000. As part of a re-investment programme, the Trust sold the Hall for re-development in 2007.

A major upgrade of paving and street lighting was completed in the autumn of 2005. The retention or removal of a section of westbound bus lane from Welling High Street became one of the few specific local issues on which the main political parties disagreed in the approach to the local Bexley Council elections held on 4 May 2006. The incoming Conservative administration immediately revoked the bus lane.

The MECCA bingo hall in Upper Wickham Lane has ceased trading, apparently one of six in England unsuited to operate after the national ban on smoking in public places.[citation needed] This large building, which originally was an Odeon cinema, is now empty awaiting modernisation. An application by the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries based in Lagos, Nigeria, to change the Mecca building's use from (Use Class D1) to a place of worship (Use Class D2) has been approved by Bexley Council.

Rosebys, the Co-op and Tesco's old store in Embassy Court all closed since 2007, as has the pub near the station that traded as Inferno's. Live music is performed occasionally at a Greek restaurant, at The Duchess of Edinburgh public house and, towards Plumstead Common, at The Glenmore Arms.

The Old Koffi Pot, dating from the 1930s, when it was called "Ferrara's" and known for its ice cream also closed for economic reasons. A modern coffee shop has now opened in its place retaining the name The Koffi Shop but a brand new black frontage and interior decor have abruptly erased any historical link with the original establishment.

Information courtesy of
Wikipedia Encyclopaedia


Welling originally formed part of the ancient manor of East Wickham which was centred on St Michael’s Church, built in the 13th century.

In the Doomsday Book, East Wickham was included as part of the return for Plumstead and the church was originally a chapel of St Nicholas’ Church in Plumstead.

Welling was originally called ‘Wellyngs’, and was first mentioned in a document dated 1362. The name probably means ‘the place of the spring’, derived from the Old English word wella (‘well’ or ‘spring’). There is certainly water in the area, notably the spring that feeds Danson Lake but also the old moat that was part of the grounds of Moat House, which appears on 19th-century maps of the area near the Guy, Earl of Warwick public house.

Wickham is taken from the old English word wicham (‘dwelling place’ or ‘settlement’).

Much of the history of this area is tied up with the manor of Danson. A magnificent Palladian villa, built in the late 1760s, survives in the middle of Danson Park, fully restored by English Heritage.

One of the owners of Danson manor, Alfred Bean, bought the house in 1862 and did much to improve local amenities, both in Welling and in nearby Bexleyheath.

The growth of the area, like that of Bexleyheath, was tied up with Watling Street, the Roman road from London to Dover, and the trade that could be had from the travellers who used it.

The old coaching inns such as the Guy, Earl of Warwick and the Nag’s Head formed the nucleus for development. These inns survive today although not in the original buildings.

Slowly shops and other amenities grew up beside the inns and in Welling a high-class residential district called Belle Grove was established on the main road to the west of Welling Corner.

The local economy was originally sustained by farming and in particular market gardening.

The arrival in 1849 of the railway line meant that perishable produce such as soft fruits could be transported to the London markets a great deal more quickly.

The predominant farm in the area was East Wickham Farm in Wickham Street owned for many years by the Jones family who lived in nearby East Wickham House.

An interesting early development in the area was a prefab estate known as the East Wickham Hutments, put up by he Royal Arsenal to house its workers on land near St Michael’s Church in 1916.

Residents of the estate had their own amenities, including a theatre, but there were frequent complaints about the drainage and sanitary arrangements.

In the 1920s a major residential development was the Welling Council Housing Scheme undertaken by Bexley Urban District Council, which borrowed £400,000 to build 426 houses.

During the 1930s New Ideal Homesteads Ltd built the Falconwood Estate and a local builder, Stevens, constructed another large estate to the north-east of Welling.

Today Welling is predominantly a residential suburb, with vast swathes of 1930s housing. Commercial life still revolves around activity on the old London to Dover road.

Much of the history of this area is tied up with the manor of Danson. A magnificent Palladian villa, built in the late 1760s, survives in the middle of Danson Park, fully restored by English Heritage. One of the owners of Danson manor, Alfred Bean bought the house in 1862 and did much to improve local amenities, both in Welling and in nearby Bexleyheath.
Information courtesy of
Homes Organisation

Welling is a large town centre situated in the west of Bexley Borough. It is home to over 300 shops and businesses and offers you the traditional shopping experience along one of the longest High Streets in London. At almost a mile long, Welling High Street has everything from supermarkets and department stores and speciality shops to bars and restaurants.

Spend a morning in Welling browsing the shops; stop for lunch in one of our popular and friendly pubs before whiling away the afternoon in the beautiful Danson Park, which features a popular boating lake, and the famous c18th mansion (recently re-opened after major restoration), only a short walk from the heart of the town.

Welling is benefiting from substantial investment from Bexley Council and improvements have recently been made to the Embassy Court shopping centre and the Westwood Lane and Nag's Head car parks.

Throughout 2005, all the lamp columns in the town centre are due to be replaced which will significantly improve the lighting in the town centre, thereby improving road safety and the performance of the town'sCCTV network of cameras.

Recent developments in the town centre include the opening of a large LIDL food store in Upper Wickham Lane.

The Bellegrove Road Railway Bridge underpasses received a major facelift in 2004 with the installation of exciting and innovative murals by a local artist working with the community. The murals are a fusion of archive photographs, invoking memories of the town's rich history, interwoven with the written word and present day images, provided in the shape of drawings by local school children.

Information courtesy of
Bexley Council


Link for Welling Website