Swanley
| Swanley | |
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 Swanley Library and Information Centre |
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 Swanley
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| Swanley shown within Kent | |
| Area | 7.15 km2 (2.76 sq mi) |
| Population | 16,226 (2011) |
| • Density | 2,269/km2 (5,880/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TQ515685 |
| • London | 15 mi (24 km) NW |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SWANLEY |
| Postcode district | BR8 |
| Dialling code | 01322 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Swanley Town Council |
Swanley is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located approximately 15 miles (24 km) southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway. The population at the 2011 census was 16,226. The local council is Swanley Town Council.
In 1066, Swanley only consisted of a few cattle farms, surrounded in oak, sycamore and ash (Fraxinus) woodland. Because Swanley only consisted of a few homesteads, it was not mentioned in the Domesday Book.
There is a theory that the placename Swanley developed from the Saxon term 'Swine-ley', "Ley" meaning a clearing in the woods and "swine" meaning pigs. So it has been suggested that it was originally a Saxon pig farm or a stopping place for pigs on the way to the markets in Kent . This later developed into what we now know as Swanley.
In the 6th and 7th Centuries, there were probably two homesteads. After the Norman Conquest, these portions of land were turned into manors, which were then often divided among the monks at Ghent Abbey and Bermondsey. The original settlement of the town of Swanley (as opposed to modern-day Swanley Village) was based around Birchwood which does get mention in later medieval and early modern documents.
The town developed from a crossroads with very few buildings to a town with a population of 16,588 (in 2001) in one and a half centuries. It had only three houses before the advent of the railway in 1861. The newer settlement grew up around the railway junction and was originally named Swanley Junction, it became Swanley, and the original Swanley became Swanley Village, in the 1920s.
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Wikipedia