a cure for sick Londoners, escaping the smog of London. Three hospitals were established, the Kettlewell (or Alexandra) Hospital in 1885, Parkwood Hospital in 1893 and White Oak Hospital in 1897. The Kettlewell stood on the site of Asda's car park and was for poor patients from London who needed to recuperate after major surgery. The Parkwood hospital was similarly used and White Oak was originally for children with eye diseases. During both World war I and II, Kettlewell and Parkwood were used as military hospitals, Parkwood become part of the Sidcup Hospital for facial injuries. After 1948, and the creations of the National Health Service, meant these old London Hospitals became redundant – Kettlewell and White Oak closed in 1959 and Parkwood ceased being a hospital in the early 1960s. Currently, the gates of White Oak can still be seen opposite Swanley Police Station in London Road, the Roman Catholic Church in Bartholomew Way is on the site of Kettlewell's chapel and Parkwood still exists in its entirety in Beechenlea Lane as Parkwood Hall School (a residential and day school). The civil parish of Swanley was created in 1955 from neighbouring parishes of Farningham and Sutton at Hone reflecting the developments of the town and increase in population. In 1974 the parish council became a Town Council and included the settlements of Hextable, Swanley Village and the main town of Swanley. In 1988, Hextable was formed into a separate parish council. Up until 1974 it was a part of the Dartford Rural District. Geography Within Kent, Swanley is adjacent to the parishes of Wilmington and Hextable to the north, Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley and Farningham to the east, and Eynsford and Crockenhill to the south. To the west there is a boundary with St Mary Cray in the London Borough of Bromley and Ruxley in the London Borough of Bexley. The closest large towns are Bexleyheath, Dartford, Orpington and Sidcup. The Swanley post town in the BR postcode area includes the hamlet of Hockenden in the London Borough of Bromley. Being on the outskirts of south east London it is a convenient commuter town for people who work in the city, as they can still be paid the London living wage. It still keeps some traditional links with Sevenoaks and Kent but it is heavily associated with South East London due to the expansion of that area close to Swanley's