Hundred of Ruxley
| Ruxley | |
|---|---|
|
with the hundred of Bromley and Beckenham. |
|
| Area | |
| • 1831 | 36,320 acres (147 km2) |
| • 1851 | 36,431 acres (147 km2) |
| Population | |
| • 1831 | 12,329 |
| • 1851 | 16,312 (in 3026 houses) |
| History | |
| • Created | in antiquity |
| • Abolished | 1884 - 1965, see chart |
| • Succeeded by |
Bromley Rural District, and Bexley Urban District, see chart |
| Status | obsolete |
| Government | hundred |
| • HQ | Ruxley |
| Subdivisions | |
| • Type | Parishes |
| • Units | Chelsfield, Cudham, Downe, Farnborough, Foots Cray, Hayes, Keston, Knockholt, North Cray, Orpington, St. Mary Cray, St. Paul's Cray, and West Wickham, (plus Ruxley before 1557) and parts of Bexley,Chislehurst, Chiddingstone, and Hever . |
Ruxley (previously Rokesley, and in the Domesday Book Helmestrei) was an ancient hundred, a land division in the north west of the county of Kent, England. Its area has been mostly absorbed by the growth of London; with its name currently referring to the Ruxley district. Its former area now corresponds to a majority of the London Borough of Bromley, a large part of the London Borough of Bexley and a small part of the Kent District of Sevenoaks. The hundred was within the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, in the west division of Kent.
The hundred was approximately fourteen miles (22.5 km) at its longest north to south and about eight miles (13 km) and its widest east to west. The River Cray was the largest river in the hundred of Ruxley flowing northward through six of its parishes, four of which are named after it. The River Cray rises in Orpington then flows through St. Mary Cray, St. Paul's Cray, North Cray, Foots Cray, and Bexley before crossing the northern border and Watling Street into the Hundred of Lesnes.
In 1797 the hundred was recorded as being divided into two half hundreds named Upper Ruxley and Lower Ruxley and under the jurisdiction of two constables.
As almost all the area of the Ruxley hundred has now been absorbed by the growth of London, and as civil parishes were abolished in Greater London, Knockholt which was in the south of Ruxley is the only parish of the Hundred that is a civil parish today. Knockholt is also the only part of this Kent Hundred that is in Kent today, although both would not have been true whilst Knockholt was in the London Borough of Bromley between 1965 and 1969.
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