Place Name
Bexley means a wood or grove of box trees from the Old English words byxe and lēah. Box trees used to be prevalent in the south of England, indeed the name can be found in various places around the Home Counties including Box Hill, Boxgrove and Boxford. It was first recorded as Bixle sometime around AD780. Although David Mills in a Dictionary of London Place Names says it featured in an Anglo-Saxon charter of AD814 as Byxlea and Bix in the Domesday Book of 1086. Only becoming Bixle in the 12thCentury and the more recognisable Bexle in 1314. The High Street follows a medieval route. This was originally just plain High Street but as Greater London grew the names of the towns, villages and hamlets were added to the numerous high streets to avoid confusion.
