Platt

Crofton Roman villa

Orpington · 12 miles

Evidence of Roman domestic architecture can be examined at a museum-type archaeological site on the edge of Orpington, within the London Borough of Bromley. The remains belong to a villa that was occupied from roughly AD 140 until the end of the fourth century, forming the hub of a farming estate that covered about 500 acres of fields, meadows and woodland. At its peak the residence may have comprised no fewer than twenty rooms, although today the foundations of ten rooms are visible to the public. Among the preserved spaces are two with fragments of opus signinum flooring and three where tessellated, or tiled, surfaces have been identified. A portion of the underfloor heating system survives, displaying both channelled and pillared hypocaust arrangements, and assorted small artefacts have been recovered from the layers. The villa was first uncovered in 1926 when workmen preparing a driveway for new council offices stumbled upon Roman material. While initial investigations confirmed the site's existence, a comprehensive excavation was not undertaken until 1988 by the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, with the results later published in 1996. The archaeological remains are now housed within a modern protective building. The museum is situated close to Orpington railway station, making it readily accessible by public transport. As a designated historic feature, the site is listed on OpenStreetMap and forms part of the local heritage trail that also includes the nearby Lullingstone Roman Villa in Kent.

Keston Roman Mausolea

Nash · 14 miles

The surviving round mausoleum at Keston, a ruin recorded on the Ordnance Survey as a landmark near Nash, marks the most visible part of a Roman villa complex that occupied the site for several centuries. The villa, situated in the London Borough of Bromley, lies on a landscape that earlier hosted a settlement dating back to around 2000 BC, with flint tools and Iron-age pits and postholes indicating continuous occupation through the Middle and Late Iron Age. When the Roman period began, roughly AD 50–160, the area developed a small cemetery and two enclosures, and by AD 160 the first villa structures appeared, including three larger wooden buildings. A fire destroyed the initial wooden phase, after which the principal western building was rebuilt in stone around AD 200, featuring a bath, tessellated floors and painted walls. The accompanying round mausoleum, once coated in red plaster, housed three sarcophagi, one richly decorated, and a well-preserved lead coffin. Excavations have been undertaken intermittently since the late eighteenth century, beginning with a farmer’s discovery of a sarcophagus in about 1783. Systematic work started in 1828, yielding the mausoleum and additional burials, and continued with a major programme by the West Kent Border Archaeology Group between 1967 and 1990, the results of which were published in two volumes. The site, designated as the “Iron Age settlement and Roman villa at Warbank, Keston,” is a scheduled monument. No specific visitor facilities or admission charges are recorded, and access is generally via the surrounding countryside, with the ruins visible above ground.

Red House

Upton · 14 miles

The house stands as an early illustration of the Arts and Crafts movement, designed in 1859 by architect Philip Webb together with the designer William Morris. Built between 1859 and 1860 in what was then the village of Upton, now part of Bexleyheath in south-east London, it was intended as a family home for Morris and his wife Jane. Its architecture reflects Morris’s fascination with medievalism, employing neo-Gothic elements that he described as “very medieval in spirit” and embodying the craftsmanship ethos that underpinned his later work. During the five years Morris lived there, the house welcomed several of his Pre-Raphaelite friends, notably Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who contributed to its interior decoration; Burne-Jones’s wall murals still survive. It was within these walls that Morris founded his design company, began his first wallpaper experiments, and saw the births of his daughters Jenny and May. After Morris moved out, the property remained a private residence until 2002, receiving a Grade I listing from English Heritage in 1950. The National Trust acquired the house in 2003, undertaking conservation work and opening it to the public as a museum. Managed by the National Trust, the Red House operates as a museum with an admission charge. The nearest town is Upton, and visitors can reach the site via local transport links serving the Bexleyheath area. As a historic house preserved by the Trust, it offers insight into Morris’s domestic life and the early development of Arts and Crafts design.

The Tarn

Well Hall · 16 miles

A wooded lakeside site on the eastern side of Court Road, opposite Mottingham railway station, offers a mixture of open garden, water and protected wildlife. Covering nine acres in the Royal Borough of Greenwich (postcode SE9 5AQ), the area was once the southern part of the Great Park attached to Eltham Palace, used for royal deer hunting until the English Civil War. After the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich bought the land from the neighbouring Royal Blackheath Golf Club, the public garden opened in 1935 and has remained largely as laid out in the 1930s. The central part of the site surrounds a two-acre lake, historically called Starbuck’s Pond, and provides a circular walk that follows the shoreline, crosses a wooden footbridge and links the two gated entrances. Along the route visitors find a range of benches, a gazebo, a public-toilet block with a veranda shelter and an 18th-century brick ice well that is Grade II listed and viewable through a fenced opening. The park is wheelchair-accessible on most routes, although a few steps remain near the north-west and south-west entrances. Dogs are not permitted to protect the resident birds. Half of the nine-acre area is fenced off as a bird-sanctuary nature reserve, where species such as mallard, Canada goose, rose-ringed parakeet and swan are regularly observed, alongside foxes, squirrels, frogs and bats. The lake supports a small stickleback population and is fed by the Little Quaggy stream. Access is via Court Road; the nearest town is Well Hall, and entry is free.

Bromley War Memorial

Bromley · 16 miles

Set within a garden at the entrance to Martin’s Hill – Bromley’s first ornamental park – the war memorial stands on a small rise near the junction of Glassmill Lane and Church Road. The stone monument is enclosed by iron railings and can be found using the National Grid Reference TQ 39979 69238. Its placement on Martin’s Hill, a site acquired by Bromley Council in 1878 and later planted with trees and flower beds, gives the memorial a tranquil backdrop within the town’s historic green space. The structure consists of a square Portland-stone obelisk on three steps, topped by a bronze winged Victory holding a laurel wreath. Flanking the central figure are two further bronzes: one representing Liberty with a torch and another depicting Peace with remembrance flowers. A bronze cartouche occupies the rear side, while plaques on each side of the base record the names of 769 local servicemen killed in the First World War and 476 soldiers and civilians who died in the Second World War. Designed and sculpted by Sydney March, the monument was completed and unveiled on 29 October 1922 by Lord Henry Horne, with dedication by the Bishop of Rochester. A rededication took place on 6 November 1949. Recognised for its historic importance, the memorial was entered on the National Heritage List for England on 14 December 1995 as a Grade II* listed structure (list entry 1116976).

Chinbrook Meadows

Grove Park Estate · 16 miles

Chinbrook Meadows is a park in southeast London, England, one of Lewisham's public open spaces. It is located between Chinbrook and Grove Park in the London Borough of Lewisham adjacent to the boundary with the London Borough of Bromley. The park is within the SE12 postcode district, next to the border of the BR1 postcode district.