Borough Green is a civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England. The central area is situated on the A25 road between Maidstone and Sevenoaks, with the M26 motorway running through the centre dividing Wrotham and Borough Green.

History

Pre-Roman

Two Paleolithic rock shelters were found at Oldbury Hill some two miles west of Borough Green with flint tools from about 50,000 years BCE.

Roman remains

Roman cinerary urns were first found in Barrow Field off Staley's Road in 1839 but were reburied and lost to history. In the 1880s there was a more important find on location north of the railway station where sand was being excavated. In 1898 a local archaeologist Benjamin Harrison of Ightham persuaded the owners to stop destroying them. He called in George Payne who identified them as Roman. There was a Roman cemetery consisting of rows of cinerary urns six feet apart and two feet deep. The burials date from around the year 100 CE.

Historical inns

The first record of this name was in 1575, when it appears as Borrowe Grene. Middle English grene means village green The name itself is much older. It is not known if this from Old English burh 'manor, borough' or from beorg 'hill, mound'.

The name of the community describes what it originally was – a green to which the people of the area went for sports and games.

Western Road was planned in 1877 after the sale of 56 acres of land by the Tomlyn family between the High Street and Fairfield.

Basted Mills Public Open Space

This area of 18.33 acres is a mile south from the centre of the town and is on the border of 4 parishes: Borough Green, Ightham, Platt and Plaxtol. It includes the old mill pond, two meadows and woodland with picnic areas and woodland walks. There is no parking area. The site of Basted Paper Mill, the mill records go back to 1438 when it was probably a water mill for grinding corn. Walter Monckton bought the mill in 1857,

Borough Green was historically part of the parish of Wrotham. In 1863 the parish was made a local government district, governed by a local board. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894. Although named after Wrotham, the urban district council was always based in Borough Green, which was growing to become the largest settlement in the parish following the opening of the railway station in 1874. The council met at the Railway Hotel on Wrotham Road (now Sainsbury's) until 1902, then at a converted house it leased at 2 Sevenoaks Road from 1902 until 1924, before building its own headquarters at 16–18 Maidstone Road in 1924. Wrotham Urban District was abolished in 1934, with the area being absorbed into Malling Rural District and divided into the parishes of Borough Green (which also took some territory from Ightham), Platt, Plaxtol and Wrotham. Malling Rural District in turn was abolished in 1974 to become part of Tonbridge and Malling.

Sports

Borough Green is home to the British Racing and Sports Car Club, one of the major organisers of motorsports events in the United Kingdom. The village's main football team is Potters Football Club of the Sevenoaks & District Premier Division, which fields one men's team. It has close ties with Borough Green Junior Football Club, which is also located in the village.

Churches

Several denominations have places of worship in Borough Green:

  • Anglican – Church of England: The Church of the Good Shepherd, Quarry Hill Road. Before 1875 Church of England members walked to Wrotham, Ightham, Platt or Plaxtol to go to Church. From that year services were held in the new Church of England Infants School. The foundation stone of the Church of the Good Shepherd was laid by Emmeline St. Tour, Countess Torrington on 9 January 1906 and consecrated by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr John Harmer on 5 July 1906. The Architects were Monckton and Gillespie.

thumb|Church of the Good Shepherd, consecrated in 1906

:Borough Green did not become a separate Church of England parish until 1973. Before that the village was divided into three church parishes. Most of the village was in Wrotham parish. The part in Ightham parish started at the junction of Rock road and the A25 and included everything West of Rock Road. After 1843 part of the village was in Platt parish and the Black Horse Inn marked the boundary.

  • Baptist – Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East): Borough Green Baptist Church, High Street. The land the chapel now stands on was purchased in 1816. Described as ‘wasteland’, it was sold as an outcome of the Enclosure Acts passed in 1814. It was purchased for twenty two pounds and ten shillings”. The chapel was opened for divine wor- ship in the spring of 1817.

thumb|Borough Green Baptist Church

  • Roman Catholic – St Joseph's, Western Road. The old village hall was built on this site in 1927. It was purchased by the diocese of Southwark in 1965. In 2017 a purpose-built church was officially opened on the site of the old building which had been demolished to make way for the new church.

thumb|Catholic Church, opened in 2017, part of the Catholic parish of Sevenoaks

Amenities

The village and nearby communities are served by Borough Green Primary School.

The Medical Centre on Quarry Hill Road, opened in 1993 provides GP care.

  • Richard Dixon (1930–2021), a chemist who worked on the thermal and optical properties of matter, was born in Borough Green.
  • Richard Hearne (1908–1979), actor, comedian and writer, most famous as Mr Pastry a comical children's character, lived at Platt's Farm, Long Mill Lane in nearby St Mary Platt from the 1940s.
  • Denton Welch (1915–1948), author and artist

See also

  • Listed buildings in Borough Green

References

  • The Kent Village Book, Alan Bignell, published by Countryside Books in 1986
  • Borough Green Primary School website: [www.bgpschool.kent.sch.uk/ Retrieved 8 September 2018]
  • Borough Green Past and Present, published in 1994 and available in the Borough Green branch of Kent County Council Library
  • Borough Green Parish Council
  • Borough Green community website