Joyden's Wood

Joyden's Wood
Joyden's Wood
 Joyden's Wood shown within Greater London
OS grid referenceTQ487712
Civil parishWilmington
London borough Bexley
Dartford
Ceremonial county Greater London
Kent
RegionLondon
South East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town DARTFORD
Postcode district DA2
Post town BEXLEY
Postcode district DA5
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
South East England
London Assembly Bexley and Bromley
List of places
UK
England
London

Coordinates: 51°25′N 0°08′E / 51.42°N 0.14°E

Joyden's Wood is an area of ancient woodland located south-east of Bexleyheath and south-west of Dartford, on the border between South-East London and Kent. It is one of over 1,000 woodlands in the United Kingdom looked after by the Woodland Trust. The first records of a wood on this site go back to the year 1600.

Wildlife

There are nine ponds in the wood, each of which is a habitat for all three British newts:

Archaeology

There are traces of settlements in the forest that are over 2,000 years old, and deneholes have been found. There is also Faesten Dic, ‘the strong dike’, that was built 1500 years ago by Saxon settlers and which runs for over a kilometre through the forest.

During the Second World War, two RAF Hawker Hurricane fighters crashed in the wood and some hollows visible in the wood are bomb craters.

The estate

Joydens Wood estate, officially an urban village and normally spelt without an apostrophe, is home to several thousand people, with local infant and junior schools. Three buses pass through the estate: Transport For London route B12 to Erith Via Bexleyheath, Arriva Kent route 403 to Bluewater via Dartford and to Sevenoaks via Swanley, and Go-Coach route 429 that runs from Dartford to Swanley and is extended to Bluewater and to Eynsford or Crockenhill on a Sunday. The closest railway stations are Bexley and Dartford, which both provide frequent services to Central London. There are two small shopping parades, which among other amenities include a post office, butcher, library and petrol station.

Community groups that meet at the Joydens Wood Community Centre in Birchwood Drive include a pre-school, a Women's Institute and a table tennis club.

St Barnabas' Church in Tile Kiln Lane has a multi-purpose building used both by the church and community groups. The scouts and guides have a hall; there is also a Freeholders' Association.

Local authority administration of the estate is split between the London Borough of Bexley (west) and Dartford Borough Council in Kent (east; falling within the parish of Wilmington).

Nearest places

External links