Ruxley (previously Rokesley, and in the Domesday Book Helmestrei[7][8]) was an ancient hundred, a land division in the north west of the county of Kent, England.

Its area has been mostly absorbed by the growth of London; with its name currently referring to the Ruxley district.

[4][5] Also more parishes were recorded as being partly or sometimes within the hundred, they were: Bexley, Chislehurst, Chiddingstone, Hever, and Ruxley.

Some records show that Ruxley, at least for a time had an exclave to the south containing parts of two parishes, Hever and Chiddingstone, which are in the geographical area of the Somerden Hundred and usually included in it.

Ruxley was bordered by the hundreds of Little and Lesnes to the north, Dartford and Wilmington to the northeast, Axstane to the east and northeast (sometimes the hundred of Dartford and Wilmington and the hundred of Axstane were recorded as one hundred), Codsheath to the east and southeast Westerham and Edenbridge to the south; Ruxley's southwestern border was part of the Kent border with Surrey; Bromley and Beckenham bordered to the west and finally Blackheath to the northwest.

When Greater London was created in 1965 what was previously Ruxley's eastern and southern border with the hundreds of Dartford and Wilmington, Axtane, Codsheath, and Westerham became roughly part of the border between the London Boroughs of Bromley and Bexley and the Kent districts of Sevenoaks and Dartford (although Knockholt left the London Borough of Bromley and became part of the Kent district of Sevenoaks in 1969, moving part of the border in that area).

Watling Street ran past the north side of the Bexley parish, and part of it formed some of Ruxley's northern boundary with Lesnes.

A Domesday site,[15] Orpington Mill stood almost at the source of the River Cray.

[16] The mill building dated from the 18th century[15] and was of traditional construction, with a timber frame clad with weatherboards under a peg tile roof.

A weir near the Black Boy hotel marked the site of a Domesday mill.

[15] The mill was demolished in 1872 and the area landscaped as part of the grounds of a public park.

It was used to drive a beam pump which supplied water to fountains and conservatories at "The Rookery".

This mill stood opposite the Temple public house; it had an undershot waterwheel.

[18] In 1784 William Townsend was first mentioned as a paper maker in St Mary Cray.

[23] Paper produced here bore the watermarks "Joynson Superfine" or "WJ&S" over "St Mary Cray Kent".

One of them, William, drowned in 1875 leaving Edmund Hamborough Joynson as sole heir.

[18] Cowan mentions that the mill was producing an estimated 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg) of paper a week in 1878.

[18] In the late 1890s, a dryer was sold to Nash's and installed in their mill at St Pauls Cray.

[28] In 1845, Mary Ann Nash inherited the profits and rents of the mill until her sons came of age under the terms of her husband's will.

In 1898 a 250-horsepower (about 190 kW) double-expansion condensing steam engine by Pollitt & Wigzell was installed, along with a second paper machine.

Shortly after this a secondhand dryer was purchased from Joynson's mill to replace one that had proved unsuitable.

The miller in 1872 was Stephen Cannon (son), who concentrated the business at Bexley, the mills on the Darent being sold.

[29] A steam engine was installed in 1884, the tall chimney was built by a Mr Hart from Lancashire, who fell from the top whilst doing repairs and lived to tell the tale as his fall was broken by the roof of the engine house.