THE NEWSLETTER OF THE LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY FOR THE LONDON BOROUGH OF

V O L .3. No. 1 S E P T E M B E R 1977 P R IC E 10p Free to Members BROMLEY LOCAL HISTORY No.2

.fter the success of the first publication “ Bromley Local advertising card will be available. The general experience is listory, No. 1.” arrangements are proceeding for the that most agents are only too pleased to take booklets for jcond issue. It is intended that it will be the same size as sale and they do not have to be persuaded. This is a way in ist year’s i.e. 48 pages. Nearly 4,000 copies of the No. 1. which you can help the Society, so please volunteer to take ere sold and it is thought that with more publicity and copies of the booklet and persuade your local bookseller or ilesmanship a greater number can be sold. Members are newsagent to exhibit them in the shop for sale. Offers to sked to help by taking copies to local booksellers and the Hon. Secretary, F.J. Whyler, 163 Tubbenden Lane, :ationers for them to sell. The terms of sale are quite good . (Farnborough 58679). □ - r py case it is a sale or return basis — and an attractive THE SANDERSONS OF BULLERS REGISTRATION AS AN WOOD, DUCATIONAL CHARITY Miss S. Bunnett of Bullers Wood School, St. Nicholas’ .t the annual general meeting held in March, it was Lane, Chislehurst, is collecting information on the family jported that the Committee were of the opinion that the life of John and Agnes Sanderson, who lived in Bullers ociety should be registered as an Educational Charity. It Wood House from c.1871-1920. If any one has any as then agreed that application should be made to the information or recollections about this family, will they ■harity Commission for the Society to be registered, and please contact her. She is on the telephone at 01-460 9436. te amendments to the Society’s objects, which the ommission asked for, before they would consider :gistration, were approved. The Charity Commission were informed of the decision f that meeting and formal applications for the Society to s registered was made, as a result of which the Society is aw an Educational Charity — Registration number, 73963 — with the object of promoting the advancement f education of the public by the study of the local history f the London Borough of Bromley. □

>F_3 AND WATERING PLACES >ne of our members, Miss Muriel Searle, has written a ook which through contemporary descriptions, pictures, irtoons and even doggerel, as well as handed-down temories, evokes the atmosphere of such places as Bath ad Tunbridge Wells, from the days of George III to the dwardian era. This was the age of the spa and watering laces. The book contains 160 pages and is published by A CHURCH??? lidas Books Ltd. Copies can be obtained from the author Can anyone identify the church in which this photograph :ost £4.95) at 164, Queen Anne Avenue, Bromley. □ was taken? It is almost certainly a local church and should be easily identifiable. Information please to Miss Marie Owens, 26 Cambridge Road, Bromley. lN introduction t o t h e IISTORY OF his brief introduction has been prepared by the staff of CLASSES IN LOCAL HISTORY le Beckenham library, with the help and encouragement f Mr H. Rob Copeland, who is a member of the Society The Society’s Vice-Chairman, Miss M. Hughes, B.A., will id the Committee. The booklet is available (price 30p) at be conducting the following classes:- ie Beckenham and Central libraries. Local History. Tuesdays, 7.30 p.m. Starting on 27th The reference library at Beckenham contains a wealth of September, at Elmfield Upper School, Aylesbury Road, aterial on local history. Members who wish to pursue a Bromley. udy of Beckenham’s history are invited to make use of Mediaeval History and its Local Aspects. Mondays. is special collection. The staff will be pleased to help 7.30 p.m. Starting 26th September, at Newstead Wood >u. □ School, Avebury Road, Orpington. □ Chislehurst’s Lost Curiosity Every time the monster called Progress opens his jaws and swallows, some roadside landmark vanishes. Over the last few years he has been specially well fed by fellers of fine trees, diggers up of sylvan copses, knockers down of country cottages and dumpers of concrete lamposts. Sometimes the fancy for a more solid meal has become too much for him when, instead of removing a mere wall or a pretty tree nothing less than an entire building, preferably historic and irreplaceable, would do. In such a mood was Progress when his hungry eye spotted Chislehurst’s attractive Water Tower. Helplessly lovers of the unusual watched him munch it to the last brick, destroying something that was not only unique in Britain but possibly without a like anywhere in Europe. Every West Kent motorist knew Chislehurst Water Tower, straddling the main road like a medieval city gatehouse though its true period was — dreadful word — Victorian. No driver could ignore it, standing across his path controlling traffic flow and creating its own one-way system as effectively as anything installed in modern times for the purpose. Short of crawling over the top, oncoming vehicles could only wait their turn, squeezing through the narrow central arch one by one. Pedestrians fared better, with their own needle’s eye arch at one side. This unique gateway, originally standing by another vanished feature of old Chislehurst, its hilltop windmill, was built by the local landowner, George Wythes, who in Before: Chislehurst Water Tower, about 1962 1860 resolved to develop his already extensive private estates around and Chislehurst. His scheme driver placed his vehicle carefully in line with the dark, included a new road at a less taxing gradient than the narrow and exacting central arch before sliding through existing route from Bromley, a difficult pull up for horse with literally inches to spare, while cars queued behind. drawn vehicles, and a number of new houses. Many a regular bus passenger confessed to a long standing To supply the latter Wythes built as a grand entrance to “thing” about the arch, expecting every time to feel the the estate this dual purpose gatehouse and water tower bus crunch into a squashed metal concertina against the standing across the road, the huge tank above the central arch. arch being intended to hold no less than 200,000 gallons of The obstruction, the preservationists however pleaded, water pumped from some of the many springs for which was a telling fact in the tower’s favour, being in itself a the whole district is noted. safety device, slowing traffic at the brink of a highly The tower also housed two estate families, one either dangerous hill. In its century of existence only one fatal side of the road, but the gates themselves were never accident on the hill had apparently been recorded. actually installed. Their plea failed. Sadly for lovers of the unusual, Ceremonial entry and water storage apart, Wythes had Progress the monster was allowed his giant bite of old another use for his almost fortress-like building, hoping to Chislehurst in 1963, leaving the road wider, smoother, and use it as a barrier protecting private rights over an shorn of its unique character, while the wheeled herd at important road, raising much local controversy and ill last could stampede like lemmings downhill. Demolition feeling. Only reluctantly was he eventually forced to grant began on a Friday. “And Friday the 13th” at least one public access. observer was heard to remark. The coming of large scale public water supplies soon Even a plan to preserve so small a fragment as Wythes’ made the tower’s massive storage tanks redundant, and by coat of arms on a stone panel, from above one of the the mid-1870s it had been bought by the then Kent Water Company, which linked most of the neighbourhood to its own network. By about 1875 the great tank was empty. .... and after (1976) Public waterworks facilities were however sited close by, and a small installation is still to be seen beside the tower’s old site. The picturesque building remained to span the road for nearly a century more, seeing a trickle of horse vehicles displaced by a growing flood of horseless carriages and by today’s armada of cars and lorries. By the first post-war years it was apparent to all but-lovers of the picturesque that the Water Tower could be removed on the grounds that it impeded modern traffic movements. For twenty five years controversy continued while the tower stood its ground. A quaint survival of Victorian Kent that should be preserved for its attractive turrets, mellow brickwork and pretty yet not over-ornate decoration, said the preserva­ tionists. Get rid of this nuisance of a Victorian monstrosity, said the modernists, who wanted to see the dangerous hill guarded by the gateway become an exhilarating big dipper for motorists. Certainly an obstruction existed, particularly when a red single decker bus slowed to a maddening crawl as the 2 Some Recollections of Seventy Years Ago

I was bom in 1897 and lived in Lewisham till 1930, when I stretch of gorse, over which I remember being lifted as a moved to . small boy. I do not recall many trees, apart from the From Catford our main outlet to the country was avenue of lime trees and the beech trees a little further on. originally by railway to Hayes and West Wickham, then The many silver birches are more recent, having taken the later by Tilling-Stevens buses to Farmborough. Sometimes place of the gorse after it had been destroyed by common the whole journey and back was walked. fires. There are now a number of paths over this part of At Hayes Station it was ritual to watch the engine being Hayes Common, but then there was only one; nearly all turned round on the turntable, before making the return pedestrians, and there were many, arriving at Hayes journey. (Is there a surviving photograph of the Station and going over the then very direct path to the turntable?). junction of West Common and Bastoh Manor Roads; The train journey was always of interest. All trains from thence by road to . On the way, just past the London went to Road. On Bank Holidays grounds now occupied by the Electrical Trade Union, and there were crowds of people milling about on the platforms perhaps 30 or so yards to the left, there was a clump of at waiting for the shuttle train to Hayes. The wild raspberry canes which bore fruit in season. In Keston, late John H. Humphreys, always a great walker, and a until a few years after the first war, holiday makers would friend of my father’s, wrote to the railway company patronise the refreshment house of Mrs. Green, a very suggesting that on Bank Holidays all trains go to Hayes round lady with a very round daughter, where you could direct; and this was done. For many years, too, the buy fizzy drinks and sit in a lean-to beside the house. Then, Addiscombe down trains often had a slip coach or coaches on to Keston Common, via Lakes Road, where some bell i "or Beckenham Junction, which was slipped at New heather remained along the fence on the right on entering Wieckenham. Between the platforms there, there were three the common. A solitary wild lily of the valley survived in tracks to allow another locomotive to come in to take the the marshy part of the stream there until relatively slip coaches. The wide gap between the platforms at New recently. Keston Ponds were delightful, with much gorse, Beckenham still survives, though the third track is but most of the vegetation has now disappeared owing to removed. the surfeit of visitors and the soil is being washed into the One of the original experimental radio stations once ponds. I once saw a kingfisher there. The “ well” was stood by , roughly behind where the unbuit and the spring could be seen rising about five or ten transformer station now stands. This was used by Mr yards away in the lake. In Holwood Park we would, of Marconi and Mr Muirhead to communicate with a similar course, note the anti-slavery inscription on the stone seat radio station in the field in opposite the house by the Wilberforce oak, then a healthy tree. A quarter of a occupied by the Royal College of Surgeons. A plaque on a mile before that on the left we always noted a curious tree, tree beside the road there which recorded this has been which is still there, though I have never seen it commented vandalised. The radio stations consisted of a number of upon. An oak and a yew have grown together to form one thin masts, probably 50 feet high, supported by straining trunk. The top branches of the apparently single tree are wires. oak and the lower ones are yew. Just before.that on a level 'TKe‘'I^t6'"fiSo«tt, HayesOSiSfidff lay up Station Hill and boggy part, the path was crossed by two grassy drives, (Ridgeway was unbuilt) to Hayes Common. The pit on the wide enough for a horse and carriage, running through the left then held water and harebells were fairly common. On woodland, which had presumably been made for a the right of the path towards Keston there was an immense pleasant carriage drive for people in Holwood House. These drives are now completely overgrown and I cannot identify their exact course. ChislehursfsLost Curiosity (ad) In my later school days, say 1911, before we had enough m 0_jxhes, for incorporating into a modest public seat money for buses, we boys walked, particularly to West marking the site of one wall of the gatehouse, was Wickham or Hayes — and back to Catford. Once about doomed, like everything appertaining to the water tower, 1910 we walked to Shirley Hills and back, the route being to become a bone of heated contention. The newly formed mostly free of housing after Lower Sydenham, then via Borough of Bromley, into which Chislehurst thenceforth Clock House and Elmers End. Our more usual route was to Hayes or West Wickham, along Bromley Road, fell, refused to cover the costs; neither did those members Catford, where the houses ceased a few hundred yards of the Residents’ Association within whose breasts south of Catford Town Hall. After Southend Pond, where breathed preservationist sentiments, raise sufficient funds the watermill still worked, the old main road followed towards the project. Only recently has the scheme borne what is now “Old Bromley Road” , with a very sharp bend fruit. in it, at which point the road once fell in and was not filled Nearly 15 years after its passing, travellers aboard 227 in for some months. A footpath cut off this sharp corner, buses still sometimes cringe, in unconscious reflex acting, following the line of the present main road. There was a and realise that they are doing what they did before 1963: rifle range half way across it. Another footpath starting bracing themselves for the familiar inches-to-spare from the same point went east, over the “ seven fields” , manouvre through a gateway whose like we now must journey to such cathedral cities as Wells or York to now the Downham Estate, to Burnt Ash Lane. I once saw experience. Had our own needle’s eye been so far away, a single engined biplane using one of the fields as a landing instead of on the Borough doorstep, and of 17th instead of ground, probably about 1914. The west side of Bromley 19th century date, we would probably still have cause to Hill was not built on, the large house, now the hotel, being designated “ Hydro” in large letters. The wooden fencing half cower, half rejoice, in approaching Chislehurst; at was broken and we could pick bluebells in springtime. least, some bypass road might have been devised, leaving From the top of Bromley Hill we were again among the arch like the Quadriga in London, marooned on an houses until after Bromley South station we took a track, island, but intact. Because it dared to be blatantly now Cameron Road, which soon became a footpath, with Victorian, in an era whose fashion was to decry Victoriana stiles, to Pickhurst Green. The first field was full of larks as monstrous, it was allowed to disappear into memory in springtime. Just before Pickhurst Green the track ran and local history photographic collections. between tall trees, with the ground very wet and the place Its parallel will almost certainly never be seen again full of frogs. From the south corner of Pickhurst Green the within Bromley’s bounds. □ (Continued on page 4) 3 ournaxcuMuuuni uj Jtvtmy item x igu tercu path kept to higher ground to the south of what is now 12th OCTOBER Pickhurst Rise and crossed the railway at the bridge to the This is an opportunity for members who have made a dog-leg in Hawes Lane. From this bridge I remember study of some aspect of local history, to tell other members looking back to the beautiful sight one lovely Summer day about it. Two or three members are asked to address the of the whole field full of corn. The railway bridge was meeting. Volunteers please to the Hon. Secretary. probably built to carry this public way over the line, as (Farnborough 58679). □ were, I believe, one or two other bridges over the Hayes line. From the bridge the path went at 45° (it is still a fenced path behind houses) and came out into Station THREE MILLS Road nearly opposite where Sainsbury’s shop now stands. The Three Mills at Bromley-by-Bow are regarded as the There was a large walnut tree to the left of the path just best waterside industrial buildings in London. One of them before reaching the road. Is there a large walnut tree in got an award in European Architectural Heritage Year West Wickham to-day? In West Wickham we took 1975. refreshments at Vine Cottage in High Street. There was a On Sunday 16th October, there will be an opportunity to passage-way right through the middle of the house and in inspect the tide mill. The visit has been arranged by the fine weather you could sit in the garden. The “stocks” tree Bromley Consumers’ Group and the Meopham Windmill was the well-known landmark, but the stocks had Society. disappeared long since. Wickham Hall always surprised Meet Philip Daniell at Bromley-by-Bow underground me, that so grand a house should have been built so close station at 10 a. m. (Go through the Black wall Tunnel, and to the main road, the wall and windows being no more park in side road, just past the station). After the mill than a few yards from the railings beside the road. inspection, you can go home. If you want to explore the (Continued in the next issue) fascinating Bow Back Rivers, bring a packed lunch, to eat in your car when Philip leads you back by about 2 p.m. □ X LOCAL STUDIES ~ CENTRAL LIBRARV FUTURE The Local History Section contains reference collections of books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, maps, prints, .photographs, negatives and slides for local studies relating to all parts of the London borough of Bromley. It also MEETINGS contains a substantial collection of material on the historical county of Kent and many of the towns and villages in the county. These collections provide the sources of information for studies ranging from school project work to university thesis and also for readers Tuesday, Talk on Monumental Brasses by Mr. wishing to find out more about their locality. 13th September Geoffrey B. Barrow. The opening hours were published in the previous Friday, A visit to 28, Rodway Road, Bromley, newsletter. 30th September by kind invitation of Mr. and Mrs. The section contains special collections on two local Marcus Arman. This will be a pleasant authors, H.G. Wells and Walter de la Mare and a social occasion which provides an collection on the Crystal Palace, opportunity to inspect their extensive The catalogue, arranged alphabetically by author and collection of bye-gones, etc. subject, lists material available at the central and at branch libraries (distinguished by a branch symbol after the stock Wednesday, Members' Night. Volunteers wanted number in the lower left-hand corner). The classification 12th October please to address the meeting for scheme in use is specially adapted to the requirements of a about 20 to 30 minutes, on a subject of their choice. large local collection. The card index and biography index supplement the' Friday, Informal meeting. catalogue and provide a guide to newspaper articles and 28th October uncatalogued ‘ephemeral’ material. The greater part of the map collection and the whole of Thursday, The Story of Nalder and Collyer's the illustrations collections are not yet catalogued nor 10th November Brewery and its licensed indexed but the staff will advise on the availability of items houses in Bromley and Kent. required. Mr. Herbert Shaw. The following range of material will be found on the Friday, Informal meeting. open shelves down the centre of the room:- 25th November Bound volumes of periodicals and parish magazines Local and Kent Directories Tuesday, James Scott, Surgeon. A talk by the Council Minutes 6th December Society's Chairman, Mr. A.H. Archaeological Society Annual Volumes Watkins, F.L.A. Census Reports Wednesday, Bromley College. A talk by the Revd. There is also a small selection of local histories for quick 11th January Fergus J. McBride, M.A. who retired or casual reference but it should be noted that these may last year from the post of Chaplain of not be the only books on the places or subjects the College. represented. Much of the material is stored in locked bookcases and Friday, Informal meeting. cabinets but the staff will be pleased to get out any items 27th January required. They are also ready to advise students engaged in particular research projects as to the material available All the above meetings will start at 8 p.m. and, excepting here and in other libraries or Archives Repositories. that on 30th September, will be held at Stockwell College. It is regretted that the Bromley archives section ^ ______J containing local municipal, business and private records is closed until further notice.

Designed and produced by Raven Studios Ltd., 5 Rectory Road, Beckenham, Kent on behalf of The Local History Society fo r the London Borough 4 o f Bromley. Editorial contributions or enquiries to: Mr. F.J. Why/er, 163 Tubbenden Lane, Orpington,