Halstead, Kent

Halstead is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is on the border of Kent with Greater London bordering the London Borough of Bromley. It is located south east of Orpington.

The name Halstead is derived from the Old English hald (refuge, shelter) and stede (site, place), meaning 'safe place' or 'place of refuge'. The parish church is dedicated to St Margaret. Halstead Community Primary School is located in the village.

Author Edith Nesbit spent some of her adolescence in Halstead during the 1870s and her book The Railway Children is thought to be based on her time living in a house, Halstead Hall, whose garden is about a mile and a half from the railway line.

The parish is adjacent to Fort Halstead, a government defence research centre that is thought to have developed Britain's first atomic bomb.

Transport

Halstead is served by Transport for London bus routes R5 and R10 to Orpington via Green Street Green and to Knockholt, as well as the Arriva Kent route 402 to Bromley via Farnborough and to Tunbridge Wells via Sevenoaks. The nearest rail link to Halstead is at Knockholt station.

See also

• Halstead, a town in Essex

References

• Hasted, Edward - "The History of Kent" pp319–322 (1788, reprinted 1972).
• Kitchener, Geoffrey - "Halstead in Kent - An Historical Guide" (1978).

External links

Media related to Halstead, Kent at Wikimedia Commons

• St Margaret's Church
• Community Website
• Halstead Parish Council

Towns and villages in the Sevenoaks District, Kent, England Ash Badgers Mount Bough Beech Brasted Brasted Chart Chartwell Chevening Chiddingstone Chiddingstone Causeway Chiddingstone Hoath Chipstead Cowden Crockenhill Crockham Hill Dunton Green Edenbridge Eynsford Farningham Fawkham Fawkham Green Fordcombe Four Elms Godden Green Halstead Hartley Hever Hextable Hodsoll Street Horton Kirby Ide Hill Kemsing Knockholt Leigh Markbeech New Ash Green Otford Penshurst Ridley Riverhead Seal Seal Chart Sevenoaks Sevenoaks Weald Shoreham South Darenth Sundridge Swanley Swanley Village Toys Hill Underriver Well Hill Westerham West Kingsdown List of places in Kent

Coordinates: 51°20′N 0°8′E / 51.333°N 0.133°E / 51.333; 0.133