M25 Swanley



Post to the east Button Street
Post to the south Swanley Interchange


Beech Avenue
Downsview Community Primary School. The school was built in the mid-1960s.

Beechenlea Lane
Olympic Driving Range. The Olympic has facilities for golf, snooker and bowls as well as a bar and related facilities. It is owned by the local Council.
Parkwood Convalescent Home. This was the second convalescent home to be built in Swanley. Following a large donation a trust was set ip and the trustees bought the Parkwood Estate.. The Convalescent Home opened in 1893 and used for patients from the London Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital, Guy's Hospital and the Middlesex Hospital, and the Westminster Hospital and St Mary's Hospital. The head gardener had his own cottage to look after the vegetable and flower beds.  There was a The Gothic chapel behind the main building. Patients were met at the station and not allowed to leave the grounds. during the summer, there were sports like cricket, quoits and athletic events took place. At the outbreak of the Great War it closed but took people made homeless by the Silvertown explosion in 1917. It then became a military hospital, for soldiers with facial injuries from the Queen's Hospital in Sidcup.  After the war it re-opened for convalescent patients. In the Second World War it became the Parkwood Auxiliary Hospital and Convalescent Home, run by the Red Cross. In 1948 the Home became part of the NHS and was renamed the Westminster Hospital (Parkwood) Convalescent Home, It continued to function until the early 1960s, when it closed. It was then the London Fire Brigade Training Centre for young recruits 1968-1970. In 1971 it became the Parkwood Hall School, hidden in private grounds.
Parkwood Co-operative Academy. Parkwood Hall School was opened by the Inner London Education Authority in 1970 using the old hospital set in 75 acres of woodland. After the abolition of ILEA, the school was taken over by the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, who maintained it until 2015 when it became a co-operative academy. It is a special school, which takes some day students and students between 7 and 19, whose cognitive ability is low average to severe or complex.
Beechenlea Nursery, The nursery dated from before the Second World War. It grew bedding plants, chrysanthemums, and tomatoes in 15 greenhouses. The nursery was behind the last houses on the east side of the road and is no longer in operation.


Broom Hill
Stretch of open land at the east of Beechwood Lane. Now with planning consent for housing given by the Inspectorate


London Road
Swanley Bus Garage. Ir was was the last of the garages opened under an agreement between East Surrey Bus Company and the London General Omnibus Company. It opened in 1925 for 16 vehicles.
Kingdom Hall, Jehovah’s Witnesess

M25
Balancing pond. This lies to the east of the motorway within the junction with the north bound slip from the M20.

Sources
Domesday Reloaded. Web site
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site
News Shopper. Web site
North West Kent Family History Society. Web site
Olympic Swanley. Web site
Parkwood School. Web site
Pevsner. West Kent

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