The London/Kent boundary - North Cray Road and the Mascalls Estate

A SQUARE BY SQUARE LOOK AT LONDON
TQ73 49 This covers part of Joydons Wood, Mount Mascal and the North Cray Road

Boundary London/Kent/Bexley
The boundary comes north-westwards out of Joydens Wood, turns south and follows the edge of the wood for a while and then re-enters it continuing south and ignoring paths

Post to the west North Cray
Post to the north Bexley
Post to the east Tile Kiln Lane
Post to the south Joydens Wood and Gattons


The Bexley/London side of the boundary

Bunker's Hill
The Red House. 19th red brick house. One of the buildings of the Mount Mascall Estate.

Cocksure Lane
Pond Farm –kennels and cattery
The White House. 18th house hiding an earlier, probably 17th, building
Little Mascal Farm. On the corner of Cocksure Lane. There are many old farm buildings still here including a 19th weatherboarded granary with staddle stones and a stable block. The farmhouse itself is 19th and there is also a cow house and a barn. All of which are locally listed

Joydens Wood
Keeper’s Cottage. With the initials on it ‘GVHM’ for the then owner of Mount Mascall, Sir George Vesey Holt MacKenzie. 1888

Jacquets Court
Jacquets Court flats on the site of Mount Mascall. Before Mascalls was built there was a previous, probably medieval, house to the south called Jackets Court so it has been called by the name of the older house.
Mount Mascall. This was a 17th mansion in a vast estate, which was broken up and sold in 1957. Jacquets Court is now on the site of the Jacobean mansion, which stood on a low hill on the east side of the road. ‘Mascall’ was the family name, but subsequent owners of the property included two Lord Mayors. The grounds covered the Cray to the west and Joydens Wood to the east.
Home Close Farm includes some of the buildings of Mount Mascall
Pinewood Cottage

North Cray
The North Cray Road effectively bisects the village of North Cray and when widened in the 1960s removed the centre so that in many ways the village no longer exists,

North Cray Road
A vaguely rural main road running roughly parallel to the River Cray. It runs between a junction with the A20 Maidstone Road east of Foots Cray to Bexley High Street.
37 Avenue Lodge. One of the lodges for Mount Mascal. It has a circular roof and dates from the mid 19th. Listed
85 Dower House. Originally late 18th but altered in 1820 and again later. Listed. Coach house to the Dower House. 19th century but changed. Listed
104 The Cottage. Listed
112– in the rear garden is a flint Gothic bathhouse in the style of a chapel, from the grounds of Vale Mascal. It is mid 18th and fed by a subsidiary channel of the Cray which is controlled by a sluice gate. Inside is a four-foot deep plunge bath plus a fireplace and a stone platform. Listed
128 Vale Mascal. Georgian mansion c1746 built by Sir John Tash. Part of the original house, including the top floor, has been removed. The grounds were originally much larger and included a cascade, and three weirs, however there they still cover part of the Cray and an island. One of the previous owners was Sir Francis Burdett. Listed
130/2 Vale Mascal Court. Coach house and stable of Vale Mascal. 19th. Listed
136 Oak Cottage. Estate cottages 19th of Vale Mascal.

Sands Spinney.
Part of an area of impressive ancient woodland site. Sweet chestnut coppice and oak standards and planted areas of Corsican pine, cypress and red oak. With redpoll, jay, bullfinch, turtle dove, three species of woodpecker. Owned by the Woodland Trust.

Compilation of this work has taken many years and numerous sources of material. However, for many item in this section I would like to thank, and refer readers for more detail to Darrell Spurgeon's 'Discover' series

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