Sunset across Danson Park Lake

About Welling

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.

Discover Welling

Discover Welling is a community group which aims to help highlight all the good things about Welling as well as finding ways to help enhance the community spirit of Welling.  We exist to build on what is good, not complain about things. 

Click here to find out more.

Many people enjoy the parks and green spaces available in Welling and it is sometimes hard to believe that you are in the suburbs of London and not the countryside.  There are also a good number of allotments sites.

Click here to find out more.

Transport

Welling has good transport links with a regular train service between London and Kent and a number of bus services.

Click here to find out more

Places of Worship

There are many churches in Welling of different denominations.  The majority of them are part of Churches Together in Welling.  Over the years, they have organised the Good Friday walk through Welling, Spark in the Park and would have an open air Sunday Morning service as part of the Danson Festival weekend.

Click here to find out more

Sport and Leisure

Although Welling doesn’t currently have a leisure centre or indoor gym, there are plenty of sports and leisure activities that people can participate in.

Click here to find out more

Places of Local Historic Interest

There are several buildings in Welling deemed to be of national significance so are formally listed and there are many more considered to be of local interest  that are listed in Bexley Council’s list of buildings and structures of historic or architectural significance locally.  In addition, we will be adding a few choices of our own that are not currently included in either list.

Click here to find out more

Schools

There are a number of schools in Welling including three secondary schools and nine primary schools.  You can view the latest Ofsted report for each school through the Government website.

Click here to find out more

Shops and Businesses

Welling has a large number of shops and businesses as well as many home based entrepreneurs.

Shops and registered businesses can be found in our business directory and we have a separate listing for small businesses.

If you have a business based in Welling and would like to be included in our business listings, then either complete this online form, or email discoverwelling@gmail.com for more details.

Click here to find out more

Local Government

Welling is part of the London Borough of Bexley.  Details of Welling’s councillors, Members of Parliament and London Assembly members can be found on the Local Government page.

Click here to find out more

Look Back at Welling

People like sharing memories of Welling, so we have decided to dedicate a section of our website to look back at this that have happened in Welling.

Click here to find out more