Ramsden estate is an estate in the London Borough of Bromley generally considered part of Orpington . The Ramsden estate was built as a council estate in the 1950-60s and is directly adjacent to the London Green Belt. The area was historically rural and agricultural, with the name possibly referring to pastureland kept for rams. The estate was built in the public-housing boom following the Second World War. It is made up of a large number of semi-detached houses built in the 1950s and a new central area built in the 1970s consisting of three high rise blocks and 48 maisonettes. The Estate comprises Ramsden Road, Tintagel Road, Petten Grove, Eldred Drive, Quilter Road, Westbrook Drive, Brow Crescent and Rye Crescent, with Plantation Drive and various closes around the three tower blocks being added in the 1970s.
Like many post-war estates, Ramsden had entered a troubled period by the 1980s, with a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour earning it the nickname 'Little Belfast'. In the 2000s decade the estate was regenerated under the 'Ramsden's Revival' scheme led by Broomleigh housing association. There is a small row of shops on Eldred Drive.
The Regeneration[]
In 1992 Broomleigh Housing Association became the landlords for Ramsden tenants and they planned the Ramsden Revival. Since 2002 all the flats and maisonettes bounded by Rye Crescent, Quilter Road and Tintagel Road have been demolished and replaced with modern low-rise flats and houses with gardens and play areas for children.
The plans from Broomleigh Housing Association make up the of the multi-million pound Ramsden Revival - started in 2004 to revitalise the so called "cramped 1960s estate" as the News Shopper nicknamed the estate.
Crime on the Estate[]
Problems had started to crop up with some tenants soon after the flats and maisonettes were completed. The general feeling picked up from locals at the time was that some tenants who had been rehoused from slum clearance areas in the north of the borough were unhappy with the lack of local facilities and did not like the area. A period of adjustment followed where some tenants were able to move back to the areas they previously lived in and other tenants replaced them. The estate then settled for a while. But in December 1981 six men were shot in an incident at the Community Centre. This led to Ramsden being called ‘Little Belfast’. The community centre eventually closed in 1985 but reopened in Quilter Gardens in 1997. The general local feeling was that crime was high on the estate and although police defended the crime rates many still felt like the Ramsden estate was a modern day slum. Anti social crime is still common despite some parts of the estate being regenerated. http://orpington-history.org/articles_all/pdf/History%20of%20Ramsden.pdf
https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/4863836.orpington-cops-defend-ramsden-estate-crime-stats/