Chislehurst, Kent
Historical Description
Chislehurst, a village and a large parish on the highroad from Bromley to the Crags, in Kent, with two stations on the S.E.R., 10 miles from London. The village is situated on one of the most beautiful commons in Kent, surrounded by magnificent trees, and is 300 feet above the sea. It has a head post office. Acreage of parish, 2791; population, 6557. The Church of St Nicholas is in the Perpendicular style; it has a beautifully decorated interior, and contains monuments to Sir Philip Warwick, the Selwyns and Walsinghams. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £90 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Worcester. The Church of the Annunciation, constituted the church of a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1876, is Gothic. The living is a vicarage, value £115 in the gift of the Keble College, Oxford. Christ Church, erected in 1872, is Early Decorated. The living is an incumbency, yearly value about £350, derived from pew-rents. St Mary's Roman Catholic Church is a stone building erected in 1854, chiefly at the cost of the Bowden family; the chapel which adjoins the nave on the north side was added in 1874 by the Empress Eugenic at a cost of £1500, to receive the remains of the Emperor Napoleon III. who died at Camden Place, 1873. The sarcophagus of polished Aberdeen granite, presented by Her Majesty the Queen, within which rested the remains of the Emperor, has been removed with the body to the chapel built by the Empress at Farnborough, Hants, where are now also laid the remains of the Prince Imperial, killed in Zululand in 1879 while serving as a volunteer during the Zulu War. A memorial has been erected on the spot in the chapel where the emperor's body lay while at Chislehurst. There are Wesleyan and Congregational chapels, a village hall, library, alms-houses, and an orphanage. Camden Place, once the summer residence of the antiquary Camden, is a large brick mansion, standing in beautiful grounds, and was for some time the residence of the Empress Eugenic. On the common is a monument to the Prince Imperial, erected by the residents of Chislehurst; it consists of a Runic cross of granite, 27 feet high.
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 | Chiselhurst St. Nicholas | |
| Hundred | Ruxley | |
| Lathe | Sutton-at-Hone | |
| Poor Law union | Bromley |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
St. Nicholas parish registers date from the year 1558.
The register of the Church of the Annunciation dates from the year 1870.
The register of Christ Church dates from the year 1872.
Findmypast have the following online for Chislehurst, St Nicholas: baptisms 1813-1886, marriages 1558-1812, burials 1813-1898
Churches
Church of England
Christ Church, Lubbock Road
Christ Church, in Lubbock road, erected in 1872 on a site presented by N. W. J. Strode esq. at a cost of about £5,000, is of Kentish rag, with Bath stone dressings, in the Early Decorated style, and has a tower with spire, containing a clock and one bell: it affords 700 sittings.
Church of the Annunciation, Chislehurst West
The Church of the Annunciation, Chislehurst West, is the church of a separate ecclesiastical parish, formed Oct. 29, 1876; it was built in 1870, at a cost of £10,000, and is of stone in the Gothic style, and has several stained windows: in 1892 the chancel was decorated: there are 640 sittings.
St. Nicholas (parish church)
The church of St. Nicholas is of flint, and entirely (save part of the chancel) in the Perpendicular style, and has a tower with spire containing a clock and 8 bells: there is a good screen of wood, and a rood screen: the font dates from the 12th century: the church contains monuments to Sir Philip Warwick, secretary to Charles I. 1684; William Selwyn esq. treasurer of Lincoln's Inn, 1817, with sculptures by Chantrey; Sir Edmund Walsingham kt. 1549; Sir Thomas Walsingham kt. his son, ob, 1630; and a brass with demi-effigy to Alan Porter, rector, 1452: part of the church called "The Scadbury Chantry" has for many years been the burial place of the Townshend family, Viscounts and Earls Sydney: all the stained glass is modern; the church was restored in 1849, and has 480 sittings.
Methodist
Chislehurst Methodist Chapel
The Wesleyan chapel, built in 1870 affords 400 sittings.
Roman Catholic
St. Mary
The Catholic church, erected in 1854, and dedicated to St. Mary, is of stone, and has a bell-cote, containing one bell: all windows are stained: the chapel which adjoins the nave on the south side was added in 1814 by the Empress Eugénie, at a cost of £1,500, from the designs of Mr. B. Clutton, architect, to receive the remains of the Emperor Napoleon III. who died at Camden Place, Jan. 9, 1873,: the sarcophagus of polished Aberdeen granite, presented by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, within which rested the remains of the Emperor Napoleon III. has been removed with the body of the Emperor to the chapel built by the Empress Eugénie at Farnborough, Hants, where also are now laid the remains of the Prince Imperial, killed at Itelezi, in Zululand, 1st of June, 1879; the memorial erected by Monsignor Goddard on the spot where his body lay while in this church consists of a canopied wall tomb of 15th century Gothic, with a recumbent figure of white alabaster of the prince, in the uniform of the Royal Artillery.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Chislehurst from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Chiselhurst (St. Nicholas))
Maps
Online maps of Chislehurst 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.