Downe is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley but beyond the London urban sprawl. Downe is 3.4 miles south west of Orpington and 14.2 miles south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies on a hill, and much of the centre of the village is unchanged; the former village school now acts as the village hall. The word Downe originates from the Anglosaxon word dūn, latterly down, hence the South and North Downs. In April 1965, it, which was abolished, were transferred from Kent and placed within the newly created London Borough of Bromley. The village is in the historic county of Kent.
When Charles Darwin moved there in 1842, the village was still known as Down. Its name was changed later in the 1940s to Downe, to avoid confusion with County Down in Ireland.