Place Name
This street name alludes to the area’s place in history, as the village where Henry VIII is said to have wooed, and later proposed to, Anne Boleyn. The Boleyn family owned Wickham Court from the 15thCentury, although the future queen did not grow up there. In fact Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, also spelt Bulleyne and Bullen, was her great-grandfather. Local historian Reverend Sir H L L Denny, rector of West Wickham claimed that the king’s romance with his second wife began at nearby Red Lodge. While Peter Leigh, a local historian, suggests another connection: “Henry often hunted in the deer park which included Spring Park Woods, while staying at Addington Manor.” According to Addington Palace’s website the pair are rumoured to have held clandestine meetings there while the king was still married to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Both wives have nearby streets named after them. They were built in the first part of the 20thCentury during a period of major residential development in the area.
