[3] Collectors such as Flaxman Charles John Spurrell discovered diverse palaeolithic fossils around Slade Green, along with flint artefacts that provide evidence of prehistoric human habitation.
[4] Pre-war maps indicate a barrow stood near the current Hazel Drive children's play area,[5] and the Museum of London Archaeological Service revealed the presence of a prehistoric cookery pit at Hollywood Way.
[10] Askell the Priest from Abingdon Abbey held estates in various parts of England and bequeathed titles to Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester.
[11][12][13] A moated seigneurial residence was built much closer Slade Green in the High Middle Ages, with its country house completed during the English Renaissance, and these structures were named Howbury Manor.
The isolated Crayford Marshes, which could support barges along the Rivers Thames and Darent, were seen as an ideal location for the 40 acre ammunition works that may have operated from 1879 to 1962.
[34][35][36][37] Rapid expansion followed the construction of a major rail depot designed to service 100 steam locomotives for South Eastern and Chatham Railway.
[38][39] Bexley borough's archived photos suggest the significance of the village had increased by 1905 and that it had absorbed historically important Howbury Manor.
[43][5][44] Miss Mary Edith Sheffield, identified only as a superintendent at the Thames Ammunition Works in the Crayford Marshes adjacent to Slade Green, was awarded MBE in King George V's 1918 Birthday Honours.
Records show a Baptist Church was built on Elm road in the early 1930s, and Anti-Aircraft defences were constructed on the edge of Slade Green in the late 1930s.
The 4th Home Counties Brigade (Kent) formed from volunteers in the surrounding area in 1908, deployed overseas, and manned London's air defences at Slade Green in 1941.
[57][58] The Museum of London states that Howbury Manor House, pictured within the moated medieval walls, was bombed during an air raid and then demolished.
[60] During the war the community was served by a British Restaurant operating from St. Augustine's Church Hall, which supplied up to 250 lunches six days a week to residents, the school, and nearby factories.
[64] Slade Green emerged as a London suburb in the post-war era following the construction of at least 1050 new dwellings, and a road bridge spanning the North Kent Line.
[37] According to Historic England, the interior of the medieval moated site includes a 16th or 17th century country house, with some significant surviving architectural details, and it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance.
[59][68] In 2006 the medieval moat site was the subject of an English Heritage sponsored research project by the University of Oxford's Geography Department into techniques of Soft Wall Capping for preservation purposes.
[69][70] Following an investigation by English Heritage, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport listed the Second World War anti-aircraft batteries in Slade Green's London artillery zone.
Substantial rebuilding was required following a direct hit during a Second World War air raid in 1944 and following a fire in 1991 that destroyed the roof along with much of the internal fabric.
[81] Nature conservation at Crayford Ness requires Bexley council to normally resist developments that increase lorry traffic around Slade Green.
[82] The town is increasingly a mix of privately owned residential properties benefiting from short commuting times to the City of London.
Various types of investors are attracted to Slade Green's unique combination of strategic rail infrastructure and close proximity to national road network via the M25 at the Dartford Crossing.
Some commercial developments immediately outside Slade Green are influenced by London Assembly's Bexley Riverside Opportunity and Intensification Area.
These connect Slade Green with areas including Bexleyheath, Blackheath, Bluewater, Crayford, Dartford, Erith, Lewisham, Welling and Woolwich.