Buying or selling a house in
Chislehurst
Chislehurst is a suburb in the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London since 1965 and before that in Kent. It is built around 180 acres of protected common land and still reads as a village high street rather than a uniform suburb. The station runs direct to London Cannon Street, Charing Cross and London Bridge. Vine Estates handles a small number of sales here personally.
What it’s actually like
Chislehurst is built around its commons and you feel that everywhere in it. A hundred and eighty acres of open ground inside Greater London is remarkable, and the high street still has the feel of a village about it. The mix of houses is wide — a medieval church, Victorian villas, thirties and modern — which keeps it interesting. The caves and the golf club give it a history very few suburbs can match.
“A hundred and eighty acres of common land, and a high street that still feels like a village. That's Chislehurst.”
David Johnston
The houses
The character is genuinely mixed — a medieval church precinct, Victorian villas, and 1930s and modern infill — and nothing about it is uniform. A planning inspector has described Chislehurst as still exuding the sense of a village high street, with a finer urban grain around it and two-storey terraces and semis on Empress Drive and Furzefield Road. Ernest Newton built here too, at Sitka in 1883 and Elm Bank in 1889, and extended Bullers Wood in 1889.
Getting to London
Chislehurst station is on the South Eastern Main Line. Southeastern run roughly two trains an hour off-peak to each of London Cannon Street, fastest around 26 minutes, London Charing Cross, fastest around 28 minutes, and London Bridge.
Schools
Farringtons is an independent co-educational day and boarding school founded in 1911, and Babington House is an independent co-educational day school. Bullers Wood School, Bullers Wood School for Boys, Coopers School and Chislehurst School for Girls serve the state sector.
Common questions
Is Chislehurst in Kent or London?
Chislehurst is in Greater London, in the London Borough of Bromley, and has been since 1965. Before that it was in Kent — an urban district from 1894 and then part of Chislehurst and Sidcup, which was split in 1965 with Chislehurst going to Bromley and Sidcup to Bexley.
What are Chislehurst Caves?
They are not caves. They are around 22 miles of entirely man-made chalk and flint mine tunnels, open to the public since 1900, used for munitions in the First World War and for mushrooms in the 1920s and 1930s. In the Blitz they sheltered over 15,000 people a night.
How much common land is there in Chislehurst?
Chislehurst Common and St Paul's Cray Common together run to about 180 acres, protected by an Act of Parliament of 1888 that is still in force and managed by a voluntary board of trustees. The freehold was privately held by the lord of the manor until the Chislehurst Society bought it in 2017.
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You don't need to have decided anything to call. Most of the useful conversations I have start with someone who isn't sure yet and just wants to understand their options.