Shortlands Residents' Association

Shortlands History

Shortlands is located less than a mile from Bromley town centre it has good transport links to London.

Historically, Shortlands was known as Clay or (Cley) Hill. There was a house of that name, which in the early 19th century was renamed Shortlands House (now Bishop Challoner School).  It became known as Shortlands around 1800.

Kingswood Glen

Shortlands is a medieval term that refers to the layout of fields. Shortlands is based around the Ravensbourne River which runs by Shortlands Station which celebrated its 150th anniversary last July. The fields would have been on the valley sides. In some valleys, fields run parallel to the river, making then long and thin (long lands). Here they ran at right angles to the river up the slopes either side, making them shorter and wider (short lands), hence the name.

Shortlands is most famous for Enid Blyton who lived there in the later stages of her life. Other famous residents have included the novelist Mrs Craik 1826-1887, for whom Norman Shaw built a house on Shortlands Road, and the electrical engineer Alexander Muirhead, the first man to make a recording of the human heart beat. George Grote, the eminent Greek historian, was born here in 1794 when it was known as Clay Hill.

The Greenwich meridian passes straight through Shortlands allowing residents and visitors alike to be able to stand on both the East and the West.

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Shortlands High Street

Kingswood Glen