Welcome to this website about the history of Farnborough Village, on the high road from London to Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Hastings. Farnborough is 14 miles from London, about 10 from Sevenoaks, and 350 feet above sea level. Evidence dating from when it was a significant point on the turnpike road can still be seen today.
Farnborough is less than 2 miles from Orpington, and today comes within the London Borough of Bromley, as it has since the creation of Greater London in 1965. But it is often still regarded as being in Kent. It should be distinguished from the better known Farnborough in Hampshire and from places of the same name in Berkshire and Warwickshire.
This website has a number of articles about the history and development of the village and the immediate surrounding area, which retains a shape and character that would be recognisable to a visitor from many centuries past. One reason for this is that the railway never came to Farnborough, although there were many proposals.
For convenience, the geographical scope for this website is taken to be the ancient ecclesiastical parish. This is indeed apt, as up until the later decades of the nineteenth century the church was the main instrument of local government and governance.
This map shows the current boundaries for the parich of Farnborough, which includes Locksbottom and parts of Orpington in addition to the immediate village area. Before 1938 it also included Green Street Green, as this is when the new parish of Green Street Green and Pratts Bottom was created, by taking areas from both Farnborough and Chelsfield Parishes.
After the second world war the land between Farnborough and Orpington experienced substantial housing development, such that today it is difficult to see where Farnborough ends and Orpington begins. By contrast the establishment of the green belt has prevented expansion of the village to the south. Today therefore Farnborough lies on the very edge of the Greater London built up area, and it is possible to walk directly into open fields.
The editor would welcome feedback, and submission of new material about relevant subject areas. This can be sent to Nick Reynolds at nickr306@talk21.com.
The following pages are either new or have been substantially revised with new material and/or photos.