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97-469: Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London , England and part of the London Borough of Bexley . It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located 13 miles (21 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross and south of Bexleyheath . Bexley was an ancient parish in the county of Kent . As part of the suburban growth of London in

194-623: A central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the commission. Reform of local government in the County of London and its environs was next considered by the Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London , chaired by Sir Edwin Herbert , which issued the 'Herbert Report' after three years of work in 1960. The commission applied three tests to decide if

291-573: A chartered town. Later evolution has made the Hispanic distinction between villas and ciudades a purely honorific one. Madrid is the Villa y Corte , the villa considered to be separate from the formerly mobile royal court , but the much smaller Ciudad Real was declared ciudad by the Spanish crown. In 14th and 15th century Italy, a villa once more connoted a country house, like the first Medici villas ,

388-489: A community should form part of Greater London: how strong is the area as an independent centre in its own right; how strong are its ties to London; and how strongly is it drawn outwards towards the country rather than inwards towards London. Greater London was created by the London Government Act 1963 , which came into force on 1 April 1965, replacing the administrative counties of Middlesex and London , including

485-712: A few of the notable early architects were Wallace Neff , Addison Mizner , Stanford White , and George Washington Smith . A few examples are the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills, California , Medici scale Hearst Castle on the Central Coast of California , and Villa Montalvo in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Saratoga, California , Villa Vizcaya in Coconut Grove, Miami , American Craftsman versions are

582-487: A high-status power centre with its baths and gardens. The grand villa at Woodchester preserved its mosaic floors when the Anglo-Saxon parish church was built (not by chance) upon its site. Grave-diggers preparing for burials in the churchyard as late as the 18th century had to punch through the intact mosaic floors. The even more palatial villa rustica at Fishbourne near Winchester was built (uncharacteristically) as

679-674: A humanized agricultural landscape , at that time the only desirable aspect of nature . Later villas and gardens include the Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens in Florence, and the Villa di Pratolino in Vaglia . Rome had more than its share of villas with easy reach of the small sixteenth-century city: the progenitor, the first villa suburbana built since Antiquity, was the Belvedere or palazzetto , designed by Antonio del Pollaiuolo and built on

776-705: A large open rectangle, with porticos enclosing gardens entered through a portico. Towards the end of the 3rd century, Roman towns in Britain ceased to expand: like patricians near the centre of the empire, Roman Britons withdrew from the cities to their villas, which entered on a palatial building phase, a "golden age" of villa life. Villae rusticae are essential in the Empire's economy. Two kinds of villa-plan in Roman Britain may be characteristic of Roman villas in general. The more usual plan extended wings of rooms all opening onto

873-421: A linking portico, which might be extended at right angles, even to enclose a courtyard . The other kind featured an aisled central hall like a basilica , suggesting the villa owner's magisterial role. The villa buildings were often independent structures linked by their enclosed courtyards. Timber-framed construction, carefully fitted with mortises and tenons and dowelled together, set on stone footings, were

970-436: A long entrance hall. In South Korea, the term "villa" refers to small multi-household house with 4 floors or less . In Cambodia, "villa" is used as a loanword in the local language of Khmer, and is generally used to describe any type of detached townhouse that features yard space. The term does not apply to any particular architectural style or size, the only features that distinguish a Khmer villa from another building are

1067-522: A population of 8,855,333 in 2022. The area is almost entirely urbanised and contains the majority of the Greater London Built-up Area , which extends into Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Berkshire and in 2011 had a population of 9,787,426. None of the administrative area, region, or ceremonial county hold city status , but the City of London and City of Westminster separately do. The area

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1164-455: A population of between 12 and 13 million depending on the definition of that area. According to Eurostat, London has been the most populous city and metropolitan area of the European Union . The region covers an area of 1,579 square kilometres. The population density is 4,761 people per square kilometre, more than ten times that of any other British region. In terms of population, London is

1261-617: Is also used in Pakistan, and in some of the Caribbean islands such as Jamaica , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , Guadeloupe , British Virgin Islands , and others. It is similar for the coastal resort areas of Baja California Sur and mainland Mexico, and for hospitality industry destination resort "luxury bungalows " in various locations worldwide. In Indonesia, the term "villa" is applied to Dutch colonial country houses ( landhuis ). Nowadays,

1358-445: Is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Hertfordshire to the north, Essex to the north-east, Kent to the south-east, Surrey to the south, and Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to the west. Greater London has a land area of 1,572 km (607 sq mi) and an estimated population of 8,866,180 in 2022. The ceremonial county of Greater London is only slightly smaller, with an area of 1,569 km (606 sq mi) and

1455-467: Is commonly regarded as a city in the general senses of a conurbation and a municipality. A Lord Lieutenant of Greater London is appointed for its area, excluding the City of London. For the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 , this area is defined as a county . The term "London" usually refers to region or to the conurbation, but not often to the ancient, tiny City of London. That small area

1552-564: Is divided into five sub-regions . Greater London is divided into 32 London Boroughs, each governed by a London Borough council. The City of London has a unique government dating back to the 12th century and is separate from the county of Greater London, although is still part of the region served by the Greater London Authority. All London Borough councils belong to the London Councils association. Three London Boroughs carry

1649-657: Is explained by the quantity of independent schools getting good A-level results. The state school system is often bypassed at age 16 by the more able pupils. Some London boroughs need more good sixth form colleges. The region's 34 further education colleges are funded through the Skills Funding Agency and the Young People's Learning Agency . Large colleges include Kingston College , Havering College of Further and Higher Education , and Croydon College . Villa Roman villas included: In terms of design, there

1746-808: Is home to sizeable Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish communities. Many Muslims live in Tower Hamlets and Newham ; the most important Muslim buildings are the East London Mosque in Whitechapel and the London Central Mosque on the edge of Regent's Park . London's large Hindu community is in the north-western boroughs of Harrow and Brent, the latter containing one of Europe's largest Hindu temples, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London . Sikh communities are in East and West London, particularly Southall in

1843-544: Is now the city museum of Helsinki, Finland . During the 19th and 20th century, the term "villa" became widespread for detached mansions in Europe. Special forms are for instance spa villas ( Kurvillen in German) and seaside villas ( Bädervillen in German), that became especially popular at the end of the 19th century. The tradition established back then continued throughout the 20th century and even until today. Another trend

1940-531: Is often referred to as "the City" or "the Square Mile" and it forms the main financial district. Archaically, the urbanised area of London was known as the Metropolis . In common usage, the terms "London" and "Greater London" are usually used interchangeably. Greater London is officially divided for some purposes, with varying definitions, into Inner London and Outer London . For some strategic planning purposes, it

2037-612: Is responsible for Greater London's strategic planning and is required to produce or amend the London Plan each electoral cycle. The Mayor of London is a directly elected politician who, along with the London Assembly, is responsible for the strategic government of Greater London. For elections to the London Assembly , London is divided into 14 constituencies, each formed from two or three boroughs. The City of London forms part of

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2134-518: Is served by several Transport for London bus services connecting it with areas including Abbey Wood , Bexleyheath , Bromley , Crayford , Chislehurst , Dartford , Eltham , Erith , North Greenwich , Sidcup , Thamesmead , and Welling . Bexley is twinned with: Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region , containing most of

2231-782: The Château de Ferrières is an example of the Italian Neo-Renaissance style villa – and in Britain the Mentmore Towers . A representative building of this style in Germany is Villa Haas (designed by Ludwig Hofmann) in Hesse . Villa Hakasalmi in Helsinki (built in 1834–46) represents Empire-era villa architecture. It was the home of Aurora Karamzin (1808–1902) at the end of the 19th century and

2328-522: The City and East constituency. London is divided into 73 Parliamentary borough constituencies , formed from the combined area of several wards from one or more boroughs. Typically a borough is covered by two or three constituencies. The London Region does not have city status granted by the Crown. The Cities of London and Westminster within it have received formal city status. Despite this, Greater London

2425-538: The City of London , where the London County Council had limited powers, and absorbing parts of Essex , Hertfordshire , Kent and Surrey . Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council (GLC) sharing power with the City of London Corporation (governing the small City of London) and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by

2522-605: The European Union . Irish people, from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, number about 200,000, as do the Scots and Welsh combined. In January 2005, a survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that there were more than 300 languages spoken and more than 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in 2006 London's foreign-born population

2619-609: The Farnese . Near Siena in Tuscany, the Villa Cetinale was built by Cardinal Flavio Chigi . He employed Carlo Fontana , pupil of Gian Lorenzo Bernini to transform the villa and dramatic gardens in a Roman Baroque style by 1680. The Villa Lante garden is one of the most sublime creations of the Italian villa in the landscape, completed in the 17th century. In the later 16th century in

2716-509: The Franks . Kintzheim was Villa Regis , the "villa of the king". Around 590, Saint Eligius was born in a highly placed Gallo-Roman family at the 'villa' of Chaptelat near Limoges , in Aquitaine (now France). The abbey at Stavelot was founded ca 650 on the domain of a former villa near Liège and the abbey of Vézelay had a similar founding. As Europe's influence spread to other cultures,

2813-641: The Gamble House and the villas by Greene and Greene in Pasadena, California Modern architecture has produced some important examples of buildings known as villas: Country-villa examples: Today, the term "villa" is often applied to vacation rental properties. In the United Kingdom the term is used for high quality detached homes in warm destinations, particularly Florida and the Mediterranean. The term

2910-1192: The Liebermann Villa and Britz House in Berlin, Albrechtsberg , Eckberg, Villa Stockhausen and Villa San Remo  [ de ] in Dresden , Villa Waldberta in Feldafing , Villa Kennedy  [ de ] in Frankfurt , Jenisch House and Budge-Palais in Hamburg , Villa Andreae  [ de ] and Villa Rothschild  [ de ; ar ; fr ] in Königstein , Villa Stuck and Pacelli-Palais  [ de ] in Munich , Schloss Klink at Lake Müritz , Villa Ludwigshöhe in Rhineland-Palatinate , Villa Haux in Stuttgart and Weinberg House in Waren . In France

3007-633: The Local Government Act 1985 . Its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London formed the London region in 1994. The 1998 London referendum established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority , London Assembly and

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3104-753: The London Assembly , and an executive head, the Mayor of London . The current Mayor (not to be confused with the Lord Mayor of London ) is Sadiq Khan . He is scrutinised by the elected London Assembly , which may amend his annual budget (by two-thirds majority) but otherwise lacks the power to block his directives. The headquarters of the GLA, previously at City Hall in Southwark , moved to The Crystal in Newham in January 2022. The Mayor

3201-774: The Middle Ages , its monastic-style interior survived from the Reformation until the 18th century, before refurbishment in Victorian times . Among others, the German-born scientist Henry Oldenburg was buried in the churchyard in 1677. Hall Place , a former stately home beside the River Cray on the Bourne Road out of Bexley towards Crayford, is where the Austen baronets lived. It lies to

3298-562: The Neo-Palladian a part of the late 17th century and on Renaissance Revival architecture period. In the early 18th century the English took up the term, and applied it to compact houses in the country, especially those accessible from London: Chiswick House is an example of such a "party villa". Thanks to the revival of interest in Palladio and Inigo Jones , soon Neo-Palladian villas dotted

3395-461: The Queen Anne style Victorian architecture and Beaux-Arts architecture . Communities such as Montecito , Pasadena , Bel Air , Beverly Hills , and San Marino in Southern California, and Atherton and Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area are a few examples of villa density. The popularity of Mediterranean Revival architecture in its various iterations over the last century has been consistently used in that region and in Florida . Just

3492-423: The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). The London postal district does not cover all of Greater London. Sadiq Khan ( L ) Statutory Deputy Mayor Joanne McCartney ( L/Co ) London Assembly Lord Mayor Peter Estlin London boroughs ( list ) Vacant Greater London is under the strategic local governance of the Greater London Authority (GLA). It consists of an elected assembly,

3589-409: The Villa Giulia of Pope Julius III (1550), designed by Vignola . The Roman villas Villa Ludovisi and Villa Montalto, were destroyed during the late nineteenth century in the wake of the real estate bubble that took place in Rome after the seat of government of a united Italy was established at Rome. The cool hills of Frascati gained the Villa Aldobrandini (1592); the Villa Falconieri and

3686-597: The Villa Godi , the Villa Forni Cerato , the Villa Capra "La Rotonda" , and Villa Foscari . The Villas are grouped into an association (Associazione Ville Venete) and offer touristic itineraries and accommodation possibilities. Soon after in Greenwich England, following his 1613–1615 Grand Tour , Inigo Jones designed and built the Queen's House between 1615 and 1617 in an early Palladian architecture style adaptation in another country. The Palladian villa style renewed its influence in different countries and eras and remained influential for over four hundred years, with

3783-424: The Villa Mondragone . The Villa d'Este near Tivoli is famous for the water play in its terraced gardens . The Villa Medici was on the edge of Rome, on the Pincian Hill , when it was built in 1540. Besides these designed for seasonal pleasure, usually located within easy distance of a city, other Italian villas were remade from a rocca or castello, as the family seat of power, such as Villa Caprarola for

3880-464: The Villa del Trebbio and that at Cafaggiolo , both strong fortified houses built in the 14th century in the Mugello region near Florence . In 1450, Giovanni de' Medici commenced on a hillside the Villa Medici in Fiesole , Tuscany , probably the first villa created under the instructions of Leon Battista Alberti , who theorized the features of the new idea of villa in his De re aedificatoria . These first examples of Renaissance villa predate

3977-414: The 1920s). It has now surpassed the previous 1939 peak, and is over 9 million. Figures here are for Greater London in its 2001 boundaries. Figures before 1971 have been reconstructed by the Office for National Statistics based on past censuses to fit the 2001 boundaries. Figures from 1981 onward are mid-year estimates (revised in August 2007), which are more accurate than the censuses, known to underestimate

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4074-421: The 1969 transfers of Farleigh to Surrey and Knockholt to Kent. Others have included exchange of two Thames islands with Surrey and adjustments during the 1990s to parts of the boundaries of three boroughs near the M25 . The only part of Greater London outside the motorway is North Ockendon , the furthest land unit from its centre. The majority of Greater London forms the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and

4171-399: The 20th century, Bexley increased in population, becoming a municipal borough in 1935 and has formed part of Greater London since 1965. Bexley was an ancient parish in Kent , in the diocese of Rochester , and under the Local Government Act 1894 formed part of Bexley Urban District . The urban district gained further status in 1935 as a municipal borough . Kent County Council formed

4268-949: The 25th largest city and the 17th largest metropolitan region in the world. It is ranked 4th in the world in the number of US dollar billionaires residing in the city. It ranks as one of the most expensive cities in the world, alongside Tokyo and Moscow . In the 2001 UK Census, 71.15% of the population classed their ethnic group as White, including White British (59.79%), White Irish (3.07%) or "Other White" (8.29%, mostly Greek-Cypriot, Italian, Polish and Portuguese). 12.09% classed themselves as British Asian, including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and "Other Asian" (mostly Sri Lankan, Arab and other Southern Asian ethnicities). 10.91% classed themselves as Black British (around 6% as Black African, 4% as Black Caribbean, 0.84% as "Other Black"). 3.15% were of mixed race; 1.12% as Chinese; and 1.58% as other (mostly Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and other "British Orientals"). 21.8% of inhabitants were born outside

4365-496: The Americas from Spain and Portugal, by the Spanish Colonial Revival style with regional variations. In the 20th century International Style villas were designed by Roberto Burle Marx , Oscar Niemeyer , Luis Barragán , and other architects developing a unique Euro-Latin synthesized aesthetic. Villas are particularly well represented in California and the West Coast of the United States, where they were originally commissioned by well travelled "upper-class" patrons moving on from

4462-486: The British armed forces in Germany. London has been a focus for immigration for centuries, whether as a place of safety or for economic reasons. Huguenots , Eastern European Jews, Cypriots and East African Asians are examples of the former; Irish, Bangladeshis and West Indians of the latter. The East End district around Spitalfields has been first home for several ethnic groups, which have subsequently moved elsewhere in London as they gained prosperity. The population of

4559-457: The City and Southwark Cathedral south of the river are Anglican administrative centres, while the clerical head of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion , the Archbishop of Canterbury , has his main residence at Lambeth Palace in the London Borough of Lambeth . Important national and royal ceremonies are shared between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey . The Abbey is not to be confused with nearby Westminster Cathedral ,

4656-457: The City of London and the 32 London boroughs, since the 1990 enactment of the Education Reform Act 1988 . From 1965 to 1990, 12 Inner London boroughs and the City of London were served by the Inner London Education Authority . The introduction of comprehensive schools , directed by Circular 10/65 in 1965, was mostly followed in Greater London; however, 19 grammar schools have been retained in some Outer London boroughs, with Sutton having

4753-426: The GDP of Outer London to be 103 billion euros in 2009 and per capita GDP of 21,460 euros. The largest religious groupings are Christian (48.4%), Muslim (8.4%), Hindu (8.0%), Jewish (1.8%), Sikh (1.5%), and Buddhist (1.0%), alongside those of no religion (21.7%). The United Kingdom has traditionally been Christian, and London has a large number of churches, particularly in the city. St Paul's Cathedral in

4850-461: The Greater London Arterial Road Programme, devised between 1913 and 1916, and the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles (4,810 km ) and included 9 million people. Although the London County Council (LCC) and County of London were created in 1889, the area did not cover all of London. London's built-up area, postal district , transport network and Metropolitan Police District, extended vastly beyond

4947-437: The UK, with "a huge majority of them living in London"). Though a Polish community has existed in London since the late-Middle Ages, it was not significant in the 2001 Census but has grown significantly since 2004, when Poland joined the European Union and by June 2010; London had 122,000 Polish residents. The German-born population figure may be misleading, however, because it includes British nationals born to parents serving in

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5044-410: The age of Lorenzo de' Medici , who added the Villa di Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo , begun in 1470, in Poggio a Caiano , Province of Prato , Tuscany . From Tuscany the idea of villa was spread again through Renaissance Italy and Europe. The Quattrocento villa gardens were treated as a fundamental and aesthetic link between a residential building and the outdoors, with views over

5141-406: The best GCSE results in England, at A-level it is not even above average. Sutton gets the best A-level results in London and in England. Three of the schools in the top four at A-level in London are in Sutton. It has only one independent school. The few other boroughs with above-average A-level results are Havering, Barnet, Bexley, Redbridge, and Ealing. The poor A-level results in many London boroughs

5238-426: The best results for regions of England. Greater London is generally a prosperous region, and prosperous areas generally have good GCSE results. The City of London has no state schools, just two independent schools. Haringey and Kensington and Chelsea have the most people that pass no GCSEs. At A-level, the average results for LEAs are disappointing compared to their good GCSE results. Although Kingston upon Thames gets

5335-401: The boroughs. The Greater London Authority was formed in 2000. The term "Greater London" was used before it was established by statute in 1965. It referred to the Metropolitan Police District , the area served by the Metropolitan Water Board , the London Passenger Transport Area , and the area defined by the Registrar General as the "Greater London Conurbation". The term was also used for

5432-417: The boundaries of the new administrative county. Many of the LCC housing projects, including the vast Becontree Estates , were also outside its boundaries. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War , noting that within the Metropolitan and City Police Districts there were 122 housing authorities. A Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider

5529-424: The continuous urban area of London . It contains 33 local government districts : the 32 London boroughs , which form a ceremonial county also called Greater London , and the City of London . The Greater London Authority is responsible for strategic local government across the region, and regular local government is the responsibility of the borough councils and the City of London Corporation . Greater London

5626-406: The current area of Greater London rose from about 1.1 million in 1801 (when only about 850,000 people were in the urban area, while 250,000 were living in villages and towns not yet part of London) to an estimated 8.6 million in 1939, but declined to 6.7 million in 1988, before starting to rebound in the 1990s. By 2006, the population had recovered to the level of 1970 (and the level of population in

5723-453: The directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999 . In 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone , who had been the final leader of the GLC. The 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson . The 2016, 2021 and 2024 elections were won by Sadiq Khan . London

5820-423: The eighth century, Gallo-Roman villas in the Merovingian royal fisc were repeatedly donated as sites for monasteries under royal patronage in Gaul – Saint-Maur-des-Fossés and Fleury Abbey provide examples. In Germany a famous example is Echternach ; as late as 698, Willibrord established an abbey at a Roman villa of Echternach near Trier , presented to him by Irmina , daughter of Dagobert II , king of

5917-410: The fifth century, but the concept of an isolated, self-sufficient agrarian working community, housed close together, survived into Anglo-Saxon culture as the vill , with its inhabitants – if formally bound to the land – as villeins . In regions on the Continent, aristocrats and territorial magnates donated large working villas and overgrown abandoned ones to individual monks ; these might become

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6014-401: The form, and use of the villa would also spread as well. In post-Roman times a villa referred to a self-sufficient, usually fortified Italian or Gallo-Roman farmstead. It was economically as self-sufficient as a village and its inhabitants, who might be legally tied to it as serfs were villeins . The Merovingian Franks inherited the concept, followed by the Carolingian French but

6111-534: The honorific title of Royal Borough : Kensington and Chelsea , Kingston , and Greenwich . Within the City of London are the liberties of Middle Temple and Inner Temple . With increasing industrialisation, London's population grew rapidly throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and it was the most populated city in the world until overtaken by New York in 1925. Its population peaked at 8,615,245 in 1939. There were an estimated 7,753,600 official residents in mid-2009. London's wider metropolitan area has

6208-460: The issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties . Protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor , Slough and Eton in the authority. The commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCC's scheme. Two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and

6305-442: The largest Roman Catholic cathedral in England and Wales. Religious practice in London is lower than in any other part of the UK or Western Europe and is around seven times lower than American averages. Despite the prevalence of Anglican churches, weekly observance is low within that denomination , although in recent years church attendance , particularly at evangelical Anglican churches in London, has started to increase. London

6402-417: The later French term was basti or bastide. Villa / Vila (or its cognates) is part of many Spanish and Portuguese placenames, like Vila Real and Villadiego : a villa / vila is a town with a charter ( fuero or foral ) of lesser importance than a ciudad / cidade ("city"). When it is associated with a personal name, villa was probably used in the original sense of a country estate rather than

6499-476: The local council-sponsored Shuttle River Way and Cray River Way and the Mayor of London's "London LOOP" walk , which, shortly after its start at Erith , follows the Cray River Way from Crayford to Foots Cray . Danson House and the surrounding Danson Park in Welling are two of the main popular attractions in the London Borough of Bexley. The Shaw family, celebrated 19th-century architects came from Bexley: John Shaw (1776–1832) worked on Lamorbey Park and

6596-492: The most with five, followed by Bexley with four and others in five other boroughs. In these boroughs the state schools outperform the (relatively few) independent schools. In inner London, private schools always get the best results and are larger in number. At GCSE and A level , Outer London boroughs have broadly better results than Inner London boroughs. At GCSE, the best borough is Kingston upon Thames, closely followed by Sutton. Both boroughs have selective schools, and get

6693-422: The new London Borough of Bromley) into a new London Borough of Bexley . Bexley's main landmark is the Anglican church of St. Mary which lends its name to the London Borough of Bexley electoral ward containing the village . The ancient church 's most distinctive exterior feature undoubtedly is its unusual spire which resembles an octagonal cone balancing on top of a truncated pyramid. Originally built in

6790-481: The north of Bexley at the foot of the road (Gravel Hill) up onto Bexley Heath (now covered in the modern day town of Bexleyheath). The house is unusual in that its two halves are built in highly contrasting architectural styles with little attempt at harmonising them. The house and grounds are now owned by the London Borough of Bexley, and are open to the public. The gardens include a topiary display of traditional heraldic figures . Three walking routes pass Hall Place,

6887-522: The northeast between Sewardstonebury next to Epping Forest and Chingford and with the Mar Dyke between Bulphan and North Ockendon . Greater London is also bounded by Hertfordshire to the north, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to the west, Kent to the southeast and Surrey to the south and southwest. The highest point is Westerham Heights, in the North Downs and on the boundary with Kent, at 245 m (804 ft). Central government has implemented small boundary changes . The greatest were

6984-658: The northeastern Italian Peninsula the Palladian villas of the Veneto , designed by Andrea Palladio (1508–1580), were built in Vicenza in the Republic of Venice . Palladio always designed his villas with reference to their setting. He often unified all the farm buildings into the architecture of his extended villas while focusing on symmetry and perfect proportion. Examples are the Villa Emo ,

7081-512: The nuclei of monasteries . In this way, the Italian villa system of late Antiquity survived into the early Medieval period in the form of monasteries that withstood the disruptions of the Gothic War (535–554) and the Lombards . About 529 Benedict of Nursia established his influential monastery of Monte Cassino in the ruins of a villa at Subiaco that had belonged to Nero . From the sixth to

7178-654: The population of London. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added (GVA) of Inner London at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling. Eurostat data shows the GDP of Inner London to be 232 billion euros in 2009 and per capita GDP of 78,000 euros. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Outer London at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British pounds sterling. Eurostat data shows

7275-730: The rest of the Old South functioned as the Roman Latifundium villas had. A later revival, in the Gilded Age and early 20th century, produced The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island , Filoli in Woodside, California , and Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. ; by architects-landscape architects such as Richard Morris Hunt , Willis Polk , and Beatrix Farrand . In the nineteenth century,

7372-547: The river is flat, but rises to low hills further away, notably Hampstead Heath , Shooter's Hill , and Sydenham Hill . The area's highest point is Westerham Heights (245 m (804 ft)), part of the North Downs . In the north-east the area contains part of Epping Forest , an ancient woodland. The City of London has had its own government since the Anglo-Saxon period. The first London-wide directly elected local government

7469-477: The rule, replaced by stone buildings for the important ceremonial rooms. Traces of window glass have been found, as well as ironwork window grilles . With the decline and collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, the villas were more and more isolated and came to be protected by walls. In England the villas were abandoned, looted , and burned by Anglo-Saxon invaders in

7566-499: The second tier of local government during that time. In 1965, London County Council was abolished and replaced by Greater London Council , with an expanded administrative area that took in the metropolitan parts of the Home Counties . Bexley Municipal Borough, Erith Municipal Borough, Crayford Urban District Council and Chislehurst & Sidcup Urban District Council were merged (less areas of Chislehurst and Sidcup that became part of

7663-655: The self-sufficiency of their latifundium villas, where they drank their own wine and pressed their own oil . This was an affectation of urban aristocrats playing at being old-fashioned virtuous Roman farmers, it has been said that the economic independence of later rural villas was a symptom of the increasing economic fragmentation of the Roman Empire . Archaeologists have meticulously examined numerous Roman villas in England . Like their Italian counterparts, they were complete working agrarian societies of fields and vineyards , perhaps even tileworks or quarries , ranged round

7760-631: The slope above the Vatican Palace . The Villa Madama , the design of which, attributed to Raphael and carried out by Giulio Romano in 1520, was one of the most influential private houses ever built; elements derived from Villa Madama appeared in villas through the 19th century. Villa Albani was built near the Porta Salaria. Other are the Villa Borghese ; the Villa Doria Pamphili (1650);

7857-598: The term villa was extended to describe any large suburban house that was free-standing in a landscaped plot of ground. By the time 'semi-detached villas' were being erected at the turn of the twentieth century, the term collapsed under its extension and overuse. The second half of the nineteenth century saw the creation of large "Villenkolonien" in the German speaking countries, wealthy residential areas that were completely made up of large mansion houses and often built to an artfully created masterplan. Also many large mansions for

7954-546: The term is more popularly applied to vacation rental usually located in countryside area. In Australia, "villas" or "villa units" are terms used to describe a type of townhouse complex which contains, possibly smaller attached or detached houses of up to 3–4 bedrooms that were built since the early 1980s. In New Zealand , "villa" refers almost exclusively to Victorian and Edwardian wooden weatherboard houses mainly built between 1880 and 1914, characterised by high ceilings (often 3.7 m or 12 ft), sash windows , and

8051-599: The top 21 countries of birth of residents in 2011. These figures do not give a fair indication of the total population of the specific ethnic groups associated with each country. For example, Londoners of Greek origin (from both Greece and Cyprus) number 300,000, since an organised Greek community has been established for nearly two centuries. The same can be said for Italian and French Londoners whose communities have been here for centuries (the French Embassy estimates there are between 300,000 and 400,000 French citizens living in

8148-421: The top two average GCSE results in England for LEAs. Next is Kensington and Chelsea, the third best in England, then Redbridge , Hammersmith and Fulham, Bromley, Barnet and Harrow. Only ten boroughs have GCSE results under the England average, and some inner-London boroughs have surprisingly good results considering where they lie on the scale of deprivation, e.g. Lambeth. Overall at GCSE in 2009, Greater London had

8245-720: The valley of the River Thames and English countryside. Marble Hill House in England was conceived originally as a "villa" in the 18th-century sense. In many ways the late 18th century Monticello , by Thomas Jefferson in Virginia , United States is a Palladian Revival villa. Other examples of the period and style are Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, Maryland ; and many pre- American Civil War or antebellum plantations , such as Westover Plantation and many other James River plantations as well dozens of Antebellum era plantations in

8342-945: The wealthy German industrialists were built, such as Villa Hügel in Essen . The Villenkolonie of Lichterfelde West in Berlin was conceived after an extended trip by the architect through the South of England. Representative historicist mansions in Germany include the Heiligendamm and other resort architecture mansions at the Baltic Sea, Rose Island and King's House on Schachen in the Bavarian Alps , Villa Dessauer in Bamberg , Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth , Drachenburg near Bonn , Hammerschmidt Villa in Bonn ,

8439-522: The western borough of Ealing, which is also home to the largest Sikh temple in the capital. The majority of British Jews live in London, with significant communities in Stamford Hill (the most Orthodox Jewish area outside New York City and Israel) and St. John's Wood , Golders Green , and Edgware in North London. Publicly funded education has been administered through 33 LEAs , which correspond to

8536-856: The wide range of Roman dwellings. Another type of villae is the "villa maritima", a seaside villa, located on the coast. A concentration of Imperial villas existed on the Gulf of Naples , on the Isle of Capri , at Monte Circeo and at Antium . Examples include the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum ; and the Villa of the Mysteries and Villa of the Vettii in Pompeii . There was an important villa maritima in Barcola near Trieste. This villa

8633-901: Was 2,288,000 (31%), up from 1,630,000 in 1997. The 2001 UK Census showed that 27.1% of the population were born outside the UK, and a slightly higher proportion were classed as Non-White. In the 2011 UK Census, 59.79% of the population classed their ethnic group as White, including White British (44.89%), White Irish (2.15%) or "Other White" (12.65%, mostly Greek-Cypriot, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Colombians and Portuguese). 18.49% classed themselves as British Asian, including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and "Other Asian" (mostly Sri Lankan, Arab and other Southern Asian ethnicities). 13.32% classed themselves as Black British (7% as Black African, 4.22% as Black Caribbean, 2.08% as "Other Black"). 4.96% were of mixed race; and 3.44% as other (mostly Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and other "British Orientals"). The table shows

8730-468: Was a well-known architect in Kent and Middlesex , being one of the first designers of semi-detached housing in the capital. He is buried at St. Mary's Church; his son, John Shaw Jr , lived in nearby Crayford for a short time and owned a villa which was demolished in the early 20th century. Bexley railway station serves the area with services to London Charing Cross via Sidcup and to Gravesend . Bexley

8827-510: Was built in the 19th century. Wealthy Romans also escaped the summer heat in the hills round Rome, especially around Tibur ( Tivoli and Frascati ), such as at Hadrian's Villa . Cicero allegedly possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of which was near Arpinum , which he inherited. Pliny the Younger had three or four, of which the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions. Roman writers refer with satisfaction to

8924-634: Was covered by a single Parliamentary constituency in the European Parliament before Brexit . Greater London includes the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers and includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a similar way to the city's parks. The closest and furthest boundaries are with Essex to

9021-464: Was historically part of Middlesex , Essex, Surrey, Kent and Hertfordshire. The River Thames is the defining geographic feature of the area, entering it near Hampton in the west and flowing east before exiting downstream of Dagenham . Several tributaries of the Thames flow through the area, but are now mostly culverted and form part of London's sewerage system . The land immediately north and south of

9118-510: Was located directly on the coast and was divided into terraces in a representation area in which luxury and power was displayed, a separate living area, a garden, some facilities open to the sea and a thermal bath. Not far from this noble place, which was already popular with the Romans because of its favorable microclimate, one of the most important Villa Maritima of its time, the Miramare Castle ,

9215-437: Was often little difference in the main residence between these types at any particular level of size, but the presence or absence of farm outbuildings reflected the size and function of the estate. Not included as villae were the domus , city houses for the élite and privileged classes, and the insulae , blocks of apartment buildings for the rest of the population. In Satyricon (1st century CE), Petronius described

9312-533: Was the London County Council , established for the County of London in 1889, which covered the core of the urban area. In 1965 the county was abolished and replaced by Greater London, a two-tier administrative area governed by the Greater London Council , thirty-two London boroughs, and the City of London Corporation. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, and its responsibilities largely taken over by

9409-569: Was the erection of rather minimalist mansions in the Bauhaus style since the 1920s, that also continues until today. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden "villa" denotes most forms of single-family detached homes , regardless of size and standard. The villa concept lived and lives on in the haciendas of Latin America and the estancias of Brazil and Argentina. The oldest are original Portuguese and Spanish Colonial architecture ; followed after independences in

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