Trains to St Mary Cray

St Mary Cray, on the very border of Kent, officially became part of London in 1934, but it had been a thriving town for several years before the railway arrived in the 1860s. The impressive nine-arch red brick viaduct that arrived with the railway still stands today, as do many of the Victorian houses that grace the residential town. Famed as having the largest community of settled Romani and Irish Travellers in the UK, St Mary Cray also has the oldest football club in London, Cray Wanderers FC – it was established in 1860 when migrant workers came to help build the railway. The area around the station is mainly residential, so those heading out for a bit of St Mary Cray fun need make the seven-minute walk past the large detached houses on Lynmouth Rise to the large Nugent Shopping Park on Cray Avenue. Alternatively, stroll on a little farther to relax in the pretty Riverside Gardens.