Orpington and Chislehurst National Trust Centre

10:04am Friday 15th February 2008

AT A recent meeting, local historian Jim Howitt was the guest speaker.

Three hundred people crowded into the Methodist Church in Sevenoaks Road, to hear Jim talk about the ancient villages and hamlets of the area.

He has lived in St Mary Cray all his life and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the area backed up by several thousand photographs and drawings.

Mr Howitt took members from Green Street Green to Locksbottom and from Downe to Keston, through the Crays and out to Chelsfield and Shoreham.

There were tales of yesteryear and wonderful illustrations of the area as it was, more than a hundred years ago.

Members saw the old horse-drawn buses which took villagers to Orpington station when the railway first opened.

There were also pictures of Biggin Hill when the RAF was formed just after the First World War.

And there were pictures of many inns and churches from hundreds of years ago which are still standing today.

Mr Howitt is available for talks to other interested groups.

His fee is immediately passed on to the special baby unit at Princess Royal University Hospital.

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