London Borough of Bexley: History
Prior to the 19th century the area now forming the borough was sparsely populated: very few of the present settlements were mentioned in the Domesday Book, although the village of Bexley has a charter dated 814 AD. Erith was a port on the River Thames until the 17th century; the opening of the sewage works at nearby Crossness in the late 19th century turned it into an industrial town.
Today's settlement pattern is the result of the gradual extension of the London influence. Until the 19th century it was an area with a few isolated buildings such as the Georgian Danson House. With the coming of the railways building began apace, although the area is still composed of many disconnected settlements, interspersed with area of open ground and parks.
A local government district called Bexley was created in 1880, covering the parish of Bexley, which included both Bexley village and Bexleyheath. Another local government district had been created covering the neighbouring parish of Erith in 1876. Such districts were converted into urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894.
Bexley Urban District absorbed the neighbouring parish of East Wickham in 1902; Welling had previously straddled the boundary between Bexley and East Wickham, but after 1902 was therefore wholly in Bexley. Crayford was made an urban district in 1920. Bexley was made a municipal borough in 1935, as was Erith in 1938.
The modern borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former boroughs of Bexley and Erith, the Crayford Urban District and the Sidcup area from the Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District (the Chislehurst area went to the London Borough of Bromley). The area was transferred from Kent to Greater London, to become one of the 32 London boroughs.