Biggin Hill

Description:

Biggin Hill is the southernmost tip of the London Borough of Bromley and is near to the town of Westerham. By car it is also within easy reach of Orpington, Sevenoaks and of course Bromley itself. Although there is no exit at Biggin Hill, the town has easy and numerous ways to access the nearby M25. The town is only 19 miles away from Central London, but as there is only one significant road out of Biggin Hill in that direction the journey time would normally be in excess of an hour.

Public transport has always been an issue for the people of Biggin Hill; some pessimistic locals would say not much has changed in this respect since the 1900's. Although there are now a handful of buses to take residents to nearby Orpington or Bromley, despite numerous plans over the years the railway has never come as far as Biggin Hill and commuters have to make their way to these larger towns in order to continue their journey to London.

 

Biggin Hill was originally called Aperfield but after the Second World War it changed its name to Biggin Hill, associating itself with the world famous airport which had played such a big part in the Battle of Britain. London Biggin Hill Airport is a prominent part of Biggin Hill, covering a huge amount of land. On entering Biggin Hill from the Bromley side one of the most significant sites is the replica Spitfire and Hurricane outside St Georges RAF Chapel.

 

Colloquially, Biggin Hill is split into two distinct areas by local people, ‘The Top' and ‘The Valley' stemming from the geographical layout of the town. During World War Two, the airfield was known as ‘Biggin on the Bump' owing to the way the airfield was raised above all of the surrounding land. Hence ‘The Top' are the houses on top of the ‘bump' and ‘The Valley' are the houses around the base. The unusual natural formation of the land has also led to many homes being built into the hillside with a split level effect. Considering it is part of greater London, houses in Biggin Hill are relatively affordable compared to other towns in the borough.

When the RAF moved out after 75 years in 1992, this opened up a significantly large area of the town which had otherwise been out of bounds for civilians. The former RAF houses were passed into local authority and private ownership and it is an area which is still under significant development today.

 

As well as a large number of houses and residential space, the departure of the RAF also released two other significant areas within Biggin Hill. What was previously the ‘South Camp' is now the Biggin Hill Business Park, the Airport Industrial Estate as well as a handful of private flying clubs and pilot training centres.

 

The ‘West Camp' is owned by Formula One's Bernie Ecclestone but a small part of it is retained by the RAF for the site of St George's Chapel, and the replica Spitfire and Hurricane mentioned earlier. The chapel itself is open to the public.

 

The airport itself is the most significant landmark in Biggin Hill. Although not authorised for scheduled air services it is, as the name London Biggin Hill Airport suggests, it still has a significant amount of air traffic coming in and out in the form of small, private aircraft. The airport has a terminal building as well as customs facilities and the runway is actually equipped to handle planes up to the size of a Boeing 737. You will likely see larger commercial jets circling Biggin Hill, but this is down to it being the location of a navigational beacon, anchoring the south east arrival stack for London Heathrow Airport. Although achieving legendary status during World War Two, Biggin Hill Airport was briefly made famous again recently with an appearance in the film ‘The Da Vinci Code' following a mention in Dan Brown's book of the same name.

 

Once a year, Biggin Hill is descended upon by thousands of visitors coming for the Biggin Hill International Air Fair, the largest privately organised air display in the world. Whilst it is well worth a visit, it is also making note of the dates if you are not, as roads tend to get extremely congested in and around Biggin Hill for this weekend.

 

Biggin Hill has many privately owned shops but curiously, and possibly a question for local planners, it has an inordinate number of hairdressers considering the size of the town. In the late 1980's a main supermarket came to the town in the form of Safeway, this became Morrison's and today is a Waitrose. Biggin Hill also has a small Somerfield as part of a local petrol garage.

Biggin Hill has a number of pubs and some, such as The Old Jail, are well known for serving quality food. Biggin Hill also has a number of restaurants and takeaways.

 

Biggin Hill's leisure options consist of a member's golf club and Darwin Sports Centre, offering a range of sports such as badminton, tennis and trampolining as well as an outdoor synthetic pitch for team games. Biggin Hill residents have been campaigning for many years for a local swimming pool, a campaign which finally came to fruition in 2009 when work began on a pool on the site of Biggin Hill Library.

 

One of the most significant buildings in Biggin Hill is St Mark's Church. It has architecturally interesting history as it was built in the 1950s, using materials from the dismantled All Saints Church in Peckham. It has been known ever since as the ‘Moving Church'.

Primary schools in Biggin Hill include: Cudham CE Primary School; Oakland's Primary School and Biggin Hill Primary School. The only secondary school is Charles Darwin School.

 

It is rumoured that Biggin Hill is the home of many ghosts; the reason for this is attributed to its history as an airbase in World War Two.