Lullingstone

Lullingstone
Lullingstone
Shire county	Kent;
Region	South East;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Dartford
Postcode district	DA4
Dialling code	01322
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
	List of places UK England Kent 51°21′29″N 0°11′35″E / 51.35813°N 0.19318°E

Lullingstone is a rural hamlet within the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, located south east of Swanley. It is best known for its castle, Roman villa and its public golf course.

Lullingstone was a

civil parish until 1955, when it was annexed to Eynsford.^[1] The parish was in Axstane Hundred and its successor Dartford Rural District

.

History

Pre-Roman

It is believed that an Iron Age hill fort is sited on the hill above the castle, although this is unconfirmed.

Roman Occupation

Lullingstone Roman villa was discovered in 1939, and is believed to have been built around 100 AD. It contains some of the finest excavated remains of a Roman villa

in Britain, including a Romano-Christian chapel, displaying some of the earliest evidence of Christianity in Britain.

20th century

Nearby is the site of a decoy airfield for the nearby Biggin Hill airfield. Known as a Q-site, this was intended to entice bombers to misinterpret it as Biggin Hill.^[2]

In 1937 a plan was announced to create an airport the size of Heathrow in Lullingstone. The area of land had been reserved and construction of Lullingstone railway station to serve the site began. The proposal was abandoned at the outbreak of World War II.^[3]

Lullingstone Country Park was established in the 20th century.