Orpington facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Orpington
Orpington High Street, with White Hart public house on the left
Orpington
Population	90,315 (Orpington and its localities) 2011 Census
OS grid reference	TQ460660
• Charing Cross	13.4 mi (21.6 km) NW
London borough	Bromley
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ORPINGTON
Postcode district	BR5, BR6
Dialling code	01689
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Orpington
London Assembly	Bexley and Bromley
List of places UK England London 51°22′27″N 0°05′55″E / 51.3741°N 0.0986°E / 51.3741; 0.0986

Orpington is a town in Greater London, England. It is part of the London Borough of Bromley. The town is about 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross, a famous spot in central London.

Orpington is located on the edge of the Greater London Built-up Area. It is surrounded by other towns and areas like St Mary Cray to the north and Green Street Green to the south. The area uses the BR postcode area. Orpington is known as one of the 35 main centers in Greater London.

History of Orpington

The ruins of Crofton Roman Villa near Orpington Railway Station

The medieval Church of All Saints in Orpington

People have lived in the Orpington area for a very long time. Tools from the Stone Age have been found in places like Goddington Park. Pottery pieces from the early Bronze Age were also discovered. In 1956, when Ramsden Boys School was being built, people found what was left of an Iron Age farm.

The area was also home to people in Roman times. You can see this at the Crofton Roman Villa and a Roman bath-house at Fordcroft. Later, during the Anglo-Saxon period, a cemetery called Fordcroft Anglo-Saxon cemetery was used here.

The name "Orpington" first appeared in 1038. At that time, King Cnut's treasurer, Eadsy, gave land called "Orpedingetune" to a monastery in Canterbury. The name "Orpedingetune" means 'Orped's farmstead'. Orped was an Anglo-Saxon first name. The Church of All Saints was also built during the Anglo-Saxon period. In 1573, Queen Elizabeth I even visited Bark Hart, which is now Orpington Priory.

For a long time, the main shopping area was actually nearby St Mary Cray. It had a market and industries like paper mills. Orpington, however, was a small village with many fruit farms and hop fields. These farms attracted Romani people who came to pick crops. Today, the local council provides a permanent site for travelers, and some street names, like Romany Rise, remember these historical gatherings. In 1971, an important meeting of Romani people was held in Orpington. This meeting helped create the International Romani Union, a group that works for Romani people across Europe.

The Orpington railway station opened in 1868. This led to many new houses being built, especially in the 1920s and 1930s. This growth turned Orpington into a busy suburb of London. The Walnuts Shopping Centre was built in the early 1970s.

Population of Orpington

Based on the 2011 census, Orpington had a population of 15,311 people. Slightly more than half (52%) were female, and 48% were male. The average age was 42, which is a little older than the national average.

Most people in Orpington (86%) were born in England. The next largest group (1.1%) was born in Scotland. About 95% of the people in Orpington speak English.

Christianity is the most common religion, with 63.1% of people identifying as Christian. About 24.4% said they had no religion, and 2.1% were Muslim. A small number of people were Jewish or Buddhist.

Shopping and Businesses

Orpington High Street, looking south

Nugent Shopping Park

A former bank branch on a corner site in the High Street

Orpington's High Street and the Walnuts Shopping Centre have many different shops, pubs, and restaurants. A large Tesco supermarket opened in 2009. There is also a market three days a week in front of Orpington College. In 2017, new parking rules were put in place on the High Street. This helped make the street look tidier by removing many road markings.

Many of the town's bigger shops are at the Nugent Shopping Park. This shopping area is north of the High Street, near St Mary Cray. Large stores like Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's have moved to this park.

Sports and Fun

The Walnuts Leisure Centre is a great place for sports. It has a large indoor swimming pool, squash courts, and a gym. There's also a sports hall for activities like badminton, basketball, and trampolining. The Orpington Gymnastic Club uses this center for training.

The pond at Priory Gardens is the source of the River Cray.

Other sports facilities include Harris Academy Orpington. It has a floodlit pitch for hockey and football, along with tennis and netball courts. Banaatyne Health Club is another place for fitness. You can also find bodybuilding gyms and martial arts clubs in Orpington.

Rugby, football, tennis, and cricket are played at Goddington Park. Teams like Westcombe Park RFC and Orpington Football Club use these pitches. Cray Wanderers F.C., a very old football club, now plays in Bromley. They once planned to build a new stadium in Orpington, but the plan was not approved to protect green belt land.

The Orpington & District Amateur Boxing Club has produced many champions. It closed for a while but reopened in 2024. Orpington Road Runners meet regularly for runs, and they organize a 10k race each summer. There are also clubs for bowls and tennis.

A new seven-screen Odeon Cinema opened in The Walnuts Centre in 2016. Orpington had not had a cinema since 1982, so this was a big return!

Education

Bromley College's Orpington campus

Education in Orpington is managed by the London Borough of Bromley. The town has many primary and secondary schools. Some of the state secondary schools, like St. Olave's Grammar School and Newstead Wood School, choose students based on special entrance exams.

The Orpington campus of Bromley College, Bromley is a college for further education. It works with the University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church University. This building was first built as Orpington College in 1972 and is still the tallest building in the area.

Transport

Orpington railway station is a main transport hub. Trains run from here to central London stations like Charing Cross and Cannon Street. You can also catch trains to Victoria. In the other direction, trains go to places like Sevenoaks and Hastings.

Many London Buses routes serve Orpington, connecting it to different parts of London and nearby areas. The M25 motorway, which goes around London, passes south of Orpington. Several other main roads, like the A208 and A21, also pass through or near the town.

Landmarks

The Parish Church

All Saints Church

The main church in Orpington is All Saints Church. It was built on very old foundations, even before the Normans arrived in England. The church is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has an Early English style, but you can still see some older Saxon parts. The church was made much bigger in 1957.

The Priory

The west face of Orpington Priory

The Priory is a medieval house. In 1032, a chaplain named Eadsy gave his estate in Orpington to a monastery in Canterbury. The house was rebuilt in stone in 1290 and made larger later on. In the 17th century, it became a private home. The local council bought the house in 1947, and it used to have a museum, which closed in 2015.

Priory Gardens

The Priory Garden at Orpington

The Priory Gardens are beautiful gardens that are protected as a Grade II listed site. They were designed by the last private owners of The Priory. The gardens have Italian and Arts & Crafts styles. There is also a park with a children's play area and three natural ponds where the River Cray begins. Every year, the Orpington May Queen is crowned in these gardens.

Orpington Hospital

During the First World War, a large military hospital called the "16th Canadian General" was built in Orpington. It was paid for by the government of Ontario, Canada. It could hold over 1,000 patients, and by 1919, more than 25,000 wounded soldiers had been treated there. Many of the original buildings were used for over 80 years. Today, Orpington Hospital helps people with rehabilitation and other medical services. It does not have an emergency room anymore; the closest one is at Princess Royal University Hospital.

Orpington War Memorial

Orpington War Memorial

The Orpington War Memorial stands at the south end of the High Street. It is a place where people gather on Remembrance Sunday to honor those who died in wars. It was first unveiled in 1921 and listed the names of 111 local men who died in the First World War. More names were added later.

In 1999, more plaques were added to remember 432 armed forces members who died in the Second World War. There is also a new plaque for eight local men who have died on duty since 1945.

Canadian Corner

The Memorial Cross which stands in Canadian Corner

In a corner of All Saints' Church, you will find Canadian Corner. This is a memorial from the First World War. It marks the burial place of 182 soldiers who died while being treated at Orpington Hospital. Eighty-eight of these soldiers were Canadian, which is why it's called Canadian Corner. The design of this memorial looks like the war cemeteries found in France and Belgium. The Memorial Cross in Canadian Corner was the first Canadian Memorial unveiled in the UK in 1921.

Popular Culture

Orpington chicken and duck

Orpington is famous for its special types of chickens, like the "Buff," "Black," and "Speckled" chicken. These were bred here by William Cook in the 1890s. He also developed the Buff Orpington Ducks. There is even a pub in town called The Buff, named after the Buff Orpington chicken!

Orpington car

The Orpington Car was a two-seater convertible car designed by Frank Smith. It was shown at the 1920 Motor Show. It had a 10 horsepower engine. However, the company could not compete with bigger car makers, and the last car was thought to have been built in 1925. Sadly, there are no known examples of this car left today.

Orpington man

In the 1960s, journalists used the term "Orpington man." It was used to describe a typical person from the lower middle class. For example, they might say an advertisement was aimed at the "Orpington man."

TV appearances

• Parts of Orpington were used to film the 1978 crime movie Give Us Tomorrow.
• Who Believes In Orpington was a TV series about the role of the church in suburban life. It aired in February 1988.
• The Save the Children shop in Orpington High Street was featured in the show Mary Queen of Charity Shops in 2009.
• A TV ad for Sky TV that recreated The Simpsons opening was partly filmed in Lansdowne Avenue, Orpington.
• Friar Road, Orpington, was a filming location for a tree scene in the 2020 John Lewis Christmas advert.

Notable people

Notable Animals

• Flossie (cat) (b. 1995) - The oldest living cat currently alive, as of 2024, living in Orpington.

Geography

Neighbouring areas of Orpington

	Petts Wood	St Mary Cray	Crockenhill
	Locksbottom		Ramsden Estate
		Orpington
	Farnborough	Green Street Green	Chelsfield

See also

In Spanish: Orpington para niños