Mayplace Road East, DA7

In 1750 Miles Barne inherited a large estate: May Place.

’Barnehurst’ was an artificial name created for the local railway station from the family name. The area was previously agricultural – a mix of market gardens, orchards and woodland. A settlement was concentrated along Mayplace Road. Only with the electrification of the railway in 1926 did the large housing developments of the 1920s and 1930s start to appear.

In 1926, the developer W H Wedlock Ltd started to build on the site of Mayplace Farm and based on Oakwood Drive.

W H Wedlock Ltd developed the ’Mayplace Estate’ between Erith Road and Barnehurst Avenue only after 1932 as the underlying land was more difficult to develop.

The Barne family finally disposed of May Place in 1938, selling it to Crayford Urban District Council for £24,500.




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