Bromley Town Centre Park Trail – Stop 9/1 (Gatehouse & Palace Farm)

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9/1 The Lime Avenue, former Gatehouse, and Palace Farm

Welcome to our heritage and biodiversity trail around the historic parks in Bromley Town Centre. This is the last stop! However, the first stop is just down the alleyway here.

On the other side of the road you can see a row of trees that survived from the original entrance drive to the Old Bishops Palace (see stop 1/6 of the trail). The trees on this side were lost to the bypass. They look much younger in this picture! You can see the parkland fencing on the right hand side, whilst the left hand side was the back of properties along the High Street.

The Bromley Oak.

This tree has survived in the town centre, from being a sapling in a field hedge, to being at the back of the garden (of the house demolished for the Woolworths/Poundland building with a large semi-circular drivewau) in the corner with Love Lane, and now in the verge of the bypass.

The alleyway running down the side of the former Civic Centre site is an old path that led to the Palace farm (about half a mile away). When Charles Cole-Child bought the Manor of Bromley from the Church Commissioners, he experimented with the cash crop of hops, so his home farm had three large ‘Oast houses’ which were used to dry the hops – apparently if they are not dried these flowers crumble and lose their flavour.

There was a lovely Arts and Crafts arch and gatehouse near here, designed by Richard Norman Shaw in the 1860s. This was part of the work done by the new Lord of the Manor, Charles Coles-Child, when he bought the title, rights and privileges – as well as the old palace – from the Church Commissioners.

All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.