Welling is an area of South East London, within the London Borough of Bexley and the boundaries of Kent. It is 10.5 miles east-southeast of Charing Cross, the traditional centre of London.

Local legend has it that Welling is so called because in the era of horse-drawn vehicles it could be said you were “well in” to Kent, or had a “well end” to the journey up and down Shooters Hill, which at the time was a notorious haunt of highwaymen.

Local historians have recently concluded that the origin of the name is most likely from ‘Welwyn’ (meaning ‘place of the spring’), due to the existence of an underground spring located at Welling Corner, or possibly a manorial reference to the Willing family, who lived in the area in 1301.

A large Russian gun is located at Welling corner. This Russian weapon is a 36-pounder carronade (calibre 6.75 inches – weight 17 cwt) of a type used during the Crimean War, displayed on a simple wooden replica carriage. The carronade was in service from 1780 to 1860 and is now on loan from the Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich as a reminder of Welling’s early association with the Royal Arsenal, when huts at East Wickham were built as homes for munitions workers in the Great War.