Bromley, Kent
Historical Description
Bromley, a market-town and a parish in Kent. The town has stations on the L.C. & D.R. and S.E.R., is 10 miles from London, and stands on high ground, rising from the Ravensbourne river. It commands good views to the W, SW, and S, and has many fine residences. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. The town hall is a brick structure in the Elizabethan style, erected in 1865. There are Conservative and Liberal clubs, a drill hall and gymnasium, a recreation ground, a school of science and art, a cottage hospital, a literary institute, and a bank. The town is governed by a local board of 12 members. The church has traces both of Norman and Decorated work, but was mainly rebuilt in 1829, and consists of nave, chancel, and aisles. It has at the west end an ancient embattled tower, surmounted by a cupola, and contains a Norman font, a brass of 1356, a monument of Dr Hawkesworth, the chief writer of the " Adventurer" and the graves of Bishop Pearce, Bishop Yonge, and the wife of Dr Johnson. It was enlarged in 1873, and again in 1884, and now has 1200 sittings. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £500 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The Church of St John is a stone building in the Perpendicular style. The living is a vicarage; net value, £325 with residence. Christ Church was erected in 1887, and is a brick structure in the Early English style. There are Congregational, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Swedenborgian chapels, and a cemetery of 5 acres. Bromley College is a large brick structure, founded in 1666 by Bishop Warner, and repaired in 1765; gives residences and support to 40 widows. In 1875 the Gothic chapel in connection with this college was rebuilt. The civil parish comprises 4706 acres; population, 21,684; population of the ecclesiastical parishes of Holy Trinity, Bromley Common, 927; of St John the Evangelist, 2849; of St Luke, Bromley Common, 4135; and of St Peter and St Paul, 8505. The manor was given in the 8th century by Ethelbert, King of Kent, to the bishops of Rochester, continued with some slight interruptions to be held by them till a few years ago. A palace was built on it by one of the bishops soon after the Conquest, underwent improvements by successive bishops, was visited by Walpole and Pope, and gave place in 1776 to a new palace, a plain brick mansion, now the residence of the Child family. A chalybeate spring is in the palace-grounds, and another spring was formerly there called St Blaize's Well, which had anciently a small oratory, and was a resort of pilgrims in the Romish times at Whitsuntide. An old moated mansion, at the southern extremity of the town, belonged successively to the Bangnels, the Clarks, and the Simpsons. Plaistow Lodge, Bickley Park, and Sundridge are in the neighbourhood.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Kent | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Bromley St. Peter And St. Paul | |
| Hundred | Bromley and Beckenham | |
| Lathe | Sutton-at-Hone | |
| Poor Law union | Bromley |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register of SS. Peter and Paul, for baptisms dates from the year 1558; burials, 1578; marriages, 1575.
The register of St. John the Evangelist dates from the year 1880.
Findmypast have the following online for Bromley, SS Peter & Paul: marriages 1558-1997, burials 1813-1855
Churches
Church of England
Christ Church, Highland Road
Christ Church, Highland road, erected at a cost of £2,600, and opened in 1887, is of brick in the Early English style: the church is licensed, and has 350 sittings.
SS. Peter and Paul (parish church)
The church of SS. Peter and Paul is a structure of trick and flint, and has an ancient tower containing a clock and 8 bells, hung in 1777: about 1792, the structure seems to have been either rebuilt in red brick, or so remodelled in that material as to have retained but few features of the previously existing edifice; in 1830 the body of the church appears to have been again rebuilt, and in 1873 fresh alterations were made at a total cost of £2,451, but the tower, dating from the 15th centnry, has remained untouched; in 1884 the church was enlarged at a cost of nearly £4,000: there are several stained windows, some being memorials, various brasses, and a number of monuments of considerable interest to John Younge, bishop of Rochester, 1605, Zachary Pearce D.D. successively bishop of Bangor and Rochester, 1774, the Bagshawe, Smith, Chase and Lacer families, to the Scotts, of Sundridge Park, to John Hawkesworth LL.D. the friend of Dr. Johnson, 1773, to Elisabeth, wife of Dr. Samuel Johnson. d. 17 March, 1752, and many others; a memorial window was erected in 1906 to the Rev. A. G. Hellicar M.A. vicar 1865-1904: the church has 1,200 sittings.
St. John the Evangelist, Park Road (parish church)
The church of St. John the Evangelist, in Park road, erected in 1879-80, at a cost, including site, of £5,400, is of stone in the Perpendicular style, and has a turret, containing one bell: there are 700 sittings.
St. Mark, Westmoreland Road
St. Mark's, Westmoreland road, erected in place of the iron church, at the foot of Mason's hill, opened 30 Nov. 1884, is a chapel of ease to the parish church of SS. Peter and Paul, and was built at a cost of upwards of £8,000, from designs by Mr. Evelyn Hellicar A.R.I.B.A. and consecrated 22 Oct. 1898; in 1906 a tower was added at a cost of about £3,000; a lady chapel was erected in 1911 on the south side of the church, in memory of the Rev. L. J. Elwin, a former curate: there are 600 sittings.
Baptist
Bromley Baptist Chapel, Park Road
The Baptist chapel, Park road, was erected in 1865, and has 500 sittings.
Congregational
The Congregational Chapel, Widmore Road
The Congregational Chapel, Widmore road, was erected in 1881, from plans by Mr. J. Sulman F.R.I.B.A. was enlarged in 1886 and again in 1894, and will now seat 1,200 persons.
Methodist
Bromley Methodist Chapel, High Street
The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, High street, is a Gothic edifice, seating 600 persons.
Presbyterian
Trinity Presbyterian Church of England, Freelands Road
Trinity Presbyterian Church of England, Freelands road, built in 1895, has 720 sittings.
Roman Catholic
St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Plaistow Lane
St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Plaistow lane, erected in 1911, is a structure of brick and stone in the Romanesque style and will seat 450.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Bromley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bromley (St. Peter And St. Paul))
Maps
Online maps of Bromley are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.