Category Archives: Local History

local history and historic information

The Old Bromley Oak

Posted on 10 March 2020 by campaignr

This veteran oak tree (Quercus robur) was reprieved, when the Glades was being built, and still proudly stands at the side of Kentish Way. Originally it grew on the corner of the grounds of the house “Bromley Lodge” and Love … Continue reading →

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Ice-well and Summer-house and Boat-store.

Posted on 1 March 2020 by campaignr

The ice-house features on our Bromley Town Centre Parks trail, as stop 5, here. This elegant Arts & Crafts porch was the Victorian ‘pimping-up’ of the existing, and functioning, ice-well. Before there were refrigerators, there was still a fashion for … Continue reading →

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Bromley Palace Park – St Blaise’s Well.

Posted on 1 March 2020 by campaignr

See also the entry for The Bromley Town Centre Park Trail, for the well, here. St Blaise’s well was rediscovered in 1754 (by the Bishop’s domestic chaplain, a Rev Mr Hardwick); a worker showed him a spring, seeping into the … Continue reading →

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The Lord of the Manor’s Folly

Posted on 1 March 2020 by campaignr

The Lord of the Manor’s Folly Continue reading →

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Queens Gardens and formerly White Hart Field

Posted on 29 February 2020 by campaignr

In 1897 the lord of the manor, Charles Cole-Childs, gave the field known as White Hart Field, to the people. This became Queens Gardens. Before the Glades was built it stretched between Market Square and the Bishops Palace (the Bishops … Continue reading →

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Palace Park – 1732 Lead Cistern

Posted on 23 February 2020 by campaignr

This lead cistern says that it was installed by Bishop of Rochester, Joseph Wilcocks. He carried out renovations and improvements to the palace. Thanks to Bromley Borough Local History. The whereabouts of the cistern is not now know, it was … Continue reading →

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Famous People – Dr James Scott

Posted on 23 February 2020 by campaignr

In the Victorian times, Dr James Scott’s (1779-1848) had a surgery, on Bromley High Street. His surgery stood opposite the Royal Bell Hotel, where the Diners Inn (formerly George Week’s shop, as a ceramic tile panel attests) is now. He … Continue reading →

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Queens Mead and it’s Protected View

Posted on 23 February 2020 by campaignr

Down Glassmill Road, the other side of the River Ravensbourne from Martins Hill, is the grassy park of Queens Mead. It has a protected view, though this looks like it will not survive much longer: The line of buildings that … Continue reading →

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Robert Dyas – a surprise Bromley resident

Posted on 8 January 2020 by campaignr

It has been good to welcome a branch of Robert Dyas now open in Bromley High Street and even more so since it has been discovered by staff at the Local Studies Library that Robert Dyas lived for the last … Continue reading →

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Church House and Library Gardens

Posted on 28 November 2019 by campaignr

These two parks are really one; it is just a historical note that Library Gardens is the level area behind the Churchill Theatre; you then go down the slope to the integrated Church House Gardens. Note that, part of this … Continue reading →

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