The River Cray is a tributary of the River Darent

River Darent

The River Darent or River Darenth is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames in England. Its name is believed to be from a Celtic word meaning 'river where oak-trees grow'...

 in southern England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It rises in Priory Gardens in Orpington

Orpington

Orpington is a suburban town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms the southeastern edge of London's urban sprawl and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...

 in the London Borough of Bromley

London Borough of Bromley

The London Borough of Bromley is a London borough of south east London, England and forms part of Outer London. The principal town in the borough is Bromley.-Geography:...

, where rainwater permeates the chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 bedrock and forms a pond at the boundary between the chalk and impermeable clay. It then flows northwards past the industrial and residential area of St Mary Cray

St Mary Cray

St Mary Cray lies on the River Cray and is part of the London Borough of Bromley. St Mary Cray, like St Paul's Cray, has been somewhat overshadowed by the growth of nearby Orpington, which now provides local communities with their main shopping and business facilities...

, through St Paul's Cray

St Paul's Cray

St Paul's Cray lies on the River Cray and is part of the London Borough of Bromley. St Paul's Cray was once a separate village, but like its sister St Mary Cray has been incorporated in to Orpington...

 where there was once a paper mill, through Foots Cray

Foots Cray

Foots Cray is a place in the London Borough of Bexley, near the town of Sidcup, in southeast London, England, United Kingdom.It took its name from Godwin Fot, a local Saxon landowner recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and from the River Cray that passes through the village. It lay on the old...

, and enters the parkland of Foots Cray Meadows

Foots Cray Meadows

Foots Cray Meadows is an area of parkland and woodland in the London Borough of Bexley, England. It borders the suburbs of Albany Park, Sidcup, Foots Cray, and North Cray. The River Cray runs through it in a north-easterly direction...

. Here it flows under the Five Arches bridge (which was built in 1781 as part of the designs for Foots Cray Meadows drawn up by Capability Brown

Capability Brown

Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...

) and past Loring Hall (c.1760), once the home of Lord Castlereagh, who committed suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 there in 1822. It continues northwards through North Cray

North Cray

North Cray is a place in the London Borough of Bexley, southeast London, England, east southeast of Charing Cross. It lies on the River Cray and is in the Cray Meadows electoral ward which also includes Foots Cray...

 and Bexley

Bexley

Bexley is an South East London]] in the London Borough of Bexley, London, England. It is located on the banks of the River Cray south of the Roman Road, Watling Street...

, where there is a restored Gothic cold plunge bath house, built around 1766 as part of Vale Mascal Estate. It is then joined by the River Shuttle

River Shuttle

The River Shuttle is a small tributary of the River Cray in London, United Kingdom.The river rises at two or more springs between Avery Hill and Eltham in the London Borough of Greenwich at the junction of the permeable Blackheath Beds and the denser Woolwich Beds...

 and then continues through the parkland of Hall Place

Hall Place

Hall Place is a former stately home, today a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument, beside the River Cray on the outskirts of Crayford, west of Bexleyheath and north-east of Old Bexley...

, which was built for John Champneys in 1540. It then turns east through Crayford

Crayford

Crayford is a town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bexley that was an important bridging point in Roman times across the River Cray, a tributary of the River Darent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.-History:...

 and Barnes Cray

Barnes Cray

Barnes Cray is a place in the London Borough of Bexley. Its name derives from the prominent local Barne family.Up until the Victorian era it was a hamlet a kilometre downstream of Crayford where no more than sixteen homes were clustered...

 before joining the Darent, which flows northwards into the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 between Crayford Marshes and Dartford Marshes. The villages through which it flows are collectively known as The Crays.

Overview

Clean-ups on the river and campaigns for responsible angling

Angling

Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...

 are organised by the Cray Anglers Conservation Group.

There is a signposted public footpath called the Cray Riverway alongside the river, beginning at Foots Cray Meadows

Foots Cray Meadows

Foots Cray Meadows is an area of parkland and woodland in the London Borough of Bexley, England. It borders the suburbs of Albany Park, Sidcup, Foots Cray, and North Cray. The River Cray runs through it in a north-easterly direction...

 and continuing for 10 miles (about 16 km) northwards to the Thames. It is part of the London LOOP.

The river is a Local Nature Reserve

Local Nature Reserve

Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...

, a Site of Metropolitan Importance.

Watermills

The River Cray powered fourteen watermills. From source to mouth they were:

Orpington Mill

A Domesday site, Orpington Mill stood almost at the source of the River Cray. The mill building dated from the 18th century and was of traditional construction, with a timber frame clad with weatherboards under a peg tile roof. The mill was powered by a 11 in 6 in (3.51 m) by 9 feet (2.74 m) cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

 waterwheel carried on a cast iron axle which had replaced an earlier wooden one. Much of the machinery was of cast iron, including the wallower, great spur wheel and crown wheel. The upright shaft was of wood. The mill drove three pairs of millstone

Millstone

Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...

s. Miller John Colgate had introduced steam power by the 1870s, and the tall chimney for the steam engine was known locally as "Colgate's Folly", as it did not function as well as intended. The mill was used as a store in its final years before its demolition in 1934 or 1935.

Snelling's Mill, St Mary Cray

A weir near the Black Boy hotel marked the site of a Domesday mill. The mill was demolished in 1872 and the area landscaped as part of the grounds of a public park. William Joynson bought the mill for £8,000 to enable the creation of the park.

The 13 in 4 in (4.06 m) by 8 in 6 in (2.59 m) cast iron waterwheel survived. It was used to drive a beam pump which supplied water to fountains and conservatories at "The Rookery". The wheel was intact until 1962, when the shed it was in was stripped of ivy and exposed. The wheel was then vandalised and had been cleared away by March 1964.

Upper Paper Mill, St Mary Cray

This mill stood opposite the Temple public house; it had an undershot waterwheel. Nicholas Townsend was mentioned in insurance records in 1757, and William Sims in 1771. In 1784 William Townsend was first mentioned as a paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

 maker in St Mary Cray. In 1786 Samuel Lay of Sittingbourne

Sittingbourne

Sittingbourne is an industrial town about eight miles east of Gillingham in England, beside the Roman Watling Street off a creek in the Swale, a channel separating the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent...

 was the paper maker

Papermaking

Papermaking is the process of making paper, a substance which is used universally today for writing and packaging.In papermaking a dilute suspension of fibres in water is drained through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibres by...

; he was described as a master papermaker in 1801. Martha Lay ordered two moulds in 1806. Martha Lay was running the mill in 1816; paper from this mill bore the watermark

Watermark

A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light , caused by thickness or density variations in the paper...

 Martha Lay 1804. The mill ceased working in 1834.

Joynson's Mill, St Mary Cray

This was a corn mill which stood near St Mary Cray church. It was replaced by a paper mill, then a paper factory and in recent years by a warehouse complex.

In 1787 this mill was being run by Henry Brightly. John Hall was the owner in 1816. Charles Cowan

Charles Cowan

Charles Cowan was a Scottish politician and paper-maker.He was the son of Alexander Cowan, and followed his father into the paper-making industry; he would later write the article on this for the Encyclopaedia Britannica...

 was working at the mill in 1819, when the mill had two vats and was producing an estimated 1500 pounds (680.4 kg) of paper a week. William Joynson took over in 1834. He had previously been at a paper mill in Snodland

Snodland

Snodland is a small town in the county of Kent, England, located on the River Medway between Rochester and Maidstone. It has a population of about 12,000 people....

. Paper produced here bore the watermarks "Joynson Superfine" or "WJ&S" over "St Mary Cray Kent". In 1839, Joynson was granted a patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

 for watermark

Watermark

A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light , caused by thickness or density variations in the paper...

ing paper produced by machine. The waterwheel was of cast iron construction and may have been overshot, as the head was some 8 feet (2.4 m) to 9 feet (2.7 m). The mill was expanded in 1853, when a second machine was installed, enabling the steam driven mills to produce 25 to 30 tons of paper a week. William Joynson died in 1874 and the mills were left in trust

Trusteeship

Trusteeship may refer to*Trust law *Trusteeship *United Nations Trusteeship...

 to his two grandsons. One of them, William, drowned in 1875 leaving Edmund Hamborough Joynson as sole heir. Cowan mentions that the mill was producing an estimated 70000 pounds (31,751.5 kg) of paper a week in 1878. Some 700 people were employed at the mill in 1881 and E. H. Joynson took over the mill in September 1882, expanding it the following year with a new steam engine and machinery. An engraving of the mill in 1891 can be seen here. Joynson produced only high quality writing papers. In the late 1890s, a dryer was sold to Nash's and installed in their mill at St Pauls Cray. Edmund Joynson took his son into partnership shortly before World War One. The firm became William Joynson & Son. In 1914, Joynson's paper was used in the first £1

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

 and 10/-

Shilling

The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

 banknotes

Bank of England note issues

The Bank of England, which is now the Central Bank of the United Kingdom, has issued banknotes since 1694. Since 1970, its new series of notes have featured portraits of British historical figures. Of the eight banks authorised to issue banknotes in the UK, only the Bank of England can issue...

 issued by the Bank of England

Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

. Edmund H Joynson retired in 1930 and the mills were taken over by Messrs Wiggins Teape & Co. who promptly closed the mills in order to rebuild them. 350 people were made redundant, and only 200 were employed in the reopened factory. The paper factory made greaseproof and vegetable parchment paper. The mill reopened in April 1933 as the Vegetable Parchment Mills (Delcroix) Ltd. The production of "vulcanised fibre" began around 1943. In 1963 the mill was the home of the National Paper Museum The mill closed in 1967 and the paper museum collection was transferred to the Museum of Science and Industry

Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester

The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England, is a large museum devoted to the development of science, technology, and industry with emphasis on the city's achievements in these fields...

 in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

.

St Paul's Cray Mill

In 1718 this mill had two waterwheels driving machinery for dressing leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

 in oil, and a third for corn milling. The mill was replaced by a paper mill, powered by a turbine.

Foots Cray (Nash's) Paper Mill

This paper mill replaced the earlier corn mill. Papermaking had been established by 1742. A steam engine had been installed by around 1820. It was used in the 1830s as a meeting place for Baptists. In 1845, Mary Ann Nash inherited the profits and rents of the mill until her sons came of age under the terms of her husband's will. Mary Ann Nash died on June 7, 1852. Thomas Nash enlarged the mill in 1853. After his death at the age of 21, his brother William was manager under the trustees until he came of age in 1857. William Nash was married twice, and had five children. In 1870 they moved from the Mill House to a new house called Crayfield House. It is recorded that the axle of the waterwheel protruded into the kitchen of the Mill House. William Nash died on September 11, 1879 and the mill was in the hands of trustees again. In 1898 a 250 horsepower (about 190 kW) double-expansion condensing steam engine by Pollitt & Wigzell was installed, along with a second paper machine. Shortly after this a secondhand dryer was purchased from Joynson's mill to replace one that had proved unsuitable. By 1954 the site was a factory complex. It had been demolished by 1986.

Foot's Cray Mill

Foot's Cray mill was a paper mill. By the 1870s it was used as a fabric printing works. In 1900 the mill was being used as a factory making photographic film. Its final function was the processing of silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

. The paper mill had two cast iron overshot waterwheels in parallel. Each was 15 feet (4.57 m) diameter. One was 10 in 6 in (3.2 m) wide and the other was 5 feet (1.52 m) wide. The mill was demolished in 1929.

Old Mill, Bexley

A Domesday site, one of three in Bexley. This was a corn mill. In 1255, the miller, Auxellus, was censured for allowing the escape of a suspected murderer. A millstone was bought for 55s.6d. in 1300. The last building on the site dated from 1779, when the low breast shot waterwheel of 14 feet (4.27 m) by 10 feet (3.05 m) powered four pairs of millstones. It was owned by the Cannon family from 1839 to 1907. Stephen Cannon was the first of the Cannon family, also running mills on the River Darent

River Darent

The River Darent or River Darenth is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames in England. Its name is believed to be from a Celtic word meaning 'river where oak-trees grow'...

. The miller in 1872 was Stephen Cannon (son), who concentrated the business at Bexley, the mills on the Darent being sold. A steam engine was installed in 1884, the tall chimney was built by a Mr Hart from Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, who fell from the top whilst doing repairs and lived to tell the tale as his fall was broken by the roof of the engine house. The Cannon family sold Bexley mill in 1907. The mill was used in its latter days for making sacks. A picture of the mill can be seen here. The mill was burnt down on 12 May 1966 and was replaced by the Old Mill PH, a pub with a mill theme.

Hall Place Mill, Bexley

A Domesday site, this mill stood behind the mansion of Hall Place. The mill was run by the Cannon family at one time. It was a corn mill until 1882, and was then converted to a silk printing and flagmaking factory. It was demolished by a traction engine

Traction engine

A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...

 in 1925, with some of the main beams being sold to an American millionaire, Mr Brady. He used them in the construction of a mansion. The low breast shot waterwheel was 14 feet (4.27 m) by 9 feet (2.74 m) and powered at least two pairs of millstones.

Swaisland's Printing Works, Crayford

A print works was established by Charles Swaisland in 1812. Two waterwheel symbols were marked on Greenwood's 1821 map. A cast iron and wood low breast shot waterwheel of about 10 feet (3.05 m) by 6 feet (1.83 m) was removed around 1948. It drove wooden drums for fabric washing. A second waterwheel was in existence in 1893.

Calico Mill

This mill stood where Watling Street

Watling Street

Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...

 crossed the Cray. In the 18th century it processed calico. It was marked on Greenwood's 1821 map as Calico Mills.

Lower (Iron) Mill, Crayford

This was the site of a plating mill built in the 16th century. It was in existence by 1570. It was still used as a flatting mill in the early 18th century, when it was owned by Lady Shovell. It was known as Crayford Iron Mill in 1800. It had a breastshot waterwheel. In 1817, it was replaced by Crayford Flour Mills.

Crayford Saw Mill

This was a saw mill powered by a breast shot waterwheel. It partnered Crayford

Crayford

Crayford is a town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bexley that was an important bridging point in Roman times across the River Cray, a tributary of the River Darent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.-History:...

 Iron Mill from 1765. The timber for the floor of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

 was produced here. The saw mill stood alongside Crayford flour Mill; it was standing in 1854.

Crayford Flour Mills

Crayford Flour Mills were built in 1817. They were powered by a cast iron low breast shot waterwheel 28 feet (8.53 m) by 4 in 6 in (1.37 m) and drove five pairs of French Burr millstones. The upright shaft was wooden, with a cast iron wallower. The waterwheel and machinery were scrapped in 1914, when roller milling plant was installed, driven by gas engine

Gas engine

A gas engine means an engine running on a gas, such as coal gas, producer gas biogas, landfill gas, or natural gas. In the UK, the term is unambiguous...

s.