Bromleag the Journal of Bromley Borough Local History Society

Bromleag The Journal of Bromley Borough Local History Society

Volume 2 Issue13 March 2010 In this issue Milk Street’s forgotten house A mystery college in Bromley Bromley Common’s artistic heritage

‘Lost’ Church records for St Peter and St Paul Bromleag The newsletter of the Bromley Borough Local History Society

Society officers Chairman and Membership Secretary Tony Allnutt Woodside, Old Perry Street, Chislehurst, BR7 6PP 0208 467 3842 AJ [email protected] Secretary Patricia Knowlden 62 Harvest Bank Road, West Wickham, BR4 9DJ 0208 462 5002

Treasurer Brian Reynolds 2 The Limes, Oakley Road, Bromley, BR2 8HH 0208 462 9526 [email protected] Programme co-ordinator Peter Leigh 29 Woodland Way West Wickham, BR4 9LR 0208 777 9244 [email protected] Publicity and website Max Batten 5 South View, Bromley, BR13DR 0208 460 1284 [email protected] Publications John Barnes 38 Sandilands Cres, Hayes, BR2 7DR 0208 462 2603 [email protected]

BBLHS website http://bblhs.website.orange.co.uk/

Bromleag is published four times a year. The editor welcomes articles along with illustrations and photographs. These can be e-mailed, on disk or a paper copy. Items remain the copyright of the authors and do not necessarily reflect Society views. Each contributor is responsible for the content of their article. Articles may be edited to meet the constraints of the newsletter. Articles are not always used immediately as we try to maintain a balance between research, reminiscences and news and features about different subjects and parts of the borough. Editor — Christine Hellicar 150 Worlds End Lane, Chelsfield, Kent BR6 6AS 01689 857214 [email protected]

Next newsletter deadline — May 1

2 Bromleag March 2010 News The issue of Issue Numbers Contents News P3 — 9 There is a slight change to the front of this issue of Bromleag - from now on as well as P21 the date there will be an Issue Number. Bromley Memorials on-line This will make it easier, in the future, for P6 — 7 researchers to find articles, and we intend that there will be a BBLHS and a journal for Society meetings many years to come. Story of the picture So why is this Issue13 and not Issue1? postcard P10 — 11 Bromleag/e has been an important part of the Societies work ever since it was formed, bringing members local history news and Letters P12 — 14 giving them an opportunity to publish their research. Book Review But, it has not always been four issues a Pratts Bottom P15—16 year and has ranged over the years from four A4 pages through to 20 and even 24 for the th Features 25 anniversary in March 1999. And for a short Vale House, Milk Street while in the early years had volume numbers. P 17 — 21 It continued in the A4 format until March Fanny Shepherd’s 2007 when we changed to A5 because of school P22 — 24 changes in the way postage was calculated. Parish records West So we have decided that the Issue Numbers Wickham P25 will start from March 2007, bringing us to Issue 13 today. St George’s College Looking back there has also been P26 – 27 inconsistency in what the publications is called Crystal Palace exhibition – it has been a newsletter, a publication and a Part 2 P28—30 journal. As so much material now is members’ Well Wood P31 research rather than news we will also revert to the old title of journal. But issue numbers and names are not the most important thing. It is content that matters so I hope you, the readers, will also continue to be the contributors and to send in your articles for future issues of Bromleag.

Christine

3 Bromleag March 2010 News

Concerns for future of Bromley’s Royal Bell BBLHS committee member Michael Rawcliffe has written to the Victorian Society to try and enlist their help in securing the future of The Royal Bell public house in Bromley High Street. Concerns about The Royal Bell’s future have been raised by the Bromley Civic Society as it has been empty for some months and there is no sign of a new tenant for the very large public house and former hotel. In the meantime the elements are already taking their toll on the facade which urgently needs maintenance. The Royal Bell, or Bell as it used to be called, is Bromley’s one small link with Jane Austen as she makes a fleeting reference to it in Pride and Prejudice. The building we see today dates from 1898. According to Horburgh it acquired the “Royal” because of its appointment as posting house to Queen Victoria, and he asserts: “There is little doubt that not a few of the plans and schemes relating to the progress and welfare of the town have their origin in the unofficial confabulations of those influential townsmen who were accustomed to assemble regularly in the Bell’s cosy and comfortable smoke room.” One of the attractions of the new Royal Bell, when it opened was a ballroom. How things changed. When it closed its claim to fame was as a Sky TV bar with three pool tables! Penge loses its historic police station The last bobby is about to leave the borough’s – if not the whole of London’s – oldest working police station at Penge. It was opened in 1872 after pressure from church ministers concerned about rising levels of crime but was downgraded to just a counter service in 2003. The police service is moving round the corner to Maple Road but it is not known what is to become of the imposing Victorian station. I would be interested to hear from any reader who can tell me more about its history and its future! Petts Wood’s oldest business closes The longest surviving business in Petts Wood, the Dunstonian car garage, closed in January after nearly 80 years. It was opened in 1930 by 19-year-old Jack Kemsley and named after his school, St Dunstan’s in Catford. He started with four petrol pumps, an office and workshop in Station Square, Petts Wood, expanding in the 1950s to include a petrol station. He was later joined in the business by his son John, who continued to run it until this year.

4 Bromleag March 2010 News Meetings and events April — June 2010 Meetings are held at 7.45 pm on the first Tuesday of the month, from September to July, in the Methodist Church Hall, North Street, Bromley. The hall has free off-street parking, good public transport links and facilities for the disabled. Non-members are welcome at the society’s meetings for a nominal charge of £1. Meetings 6 April AGM Biggin Hill— then and now Josie Cole will use two projectors to compare views of the past with the present 4 May West Wickham in the 1940s — David Killingray 1 June New light on Chelsfield, Farnborough and Orpington — Geoffrey Copus looks at little known sources of research Visits — book early to ensure your place Peter Leigh has organised two visits for the spring. Both follow on from talks that we have enjoyed over recent months. 14 May A day’s outing to Bromley Museum, Orpington Priory, Poverest Roman Bath and Crofton Roman Villa For the first time we will be having a day outing taking in the major Roman sites in Orpington and Bromley Museum’s curator, Marie Louise Kerr, will be there to give us more insight into the borough’s Roman legacy. At The Priory we shall split into two parties. One group will look at the museum exhibits and records and the other group will have a guided tour of The Priory before the groups swap over. There will be free time for lunch before we meet again to visit Poverest roman baths. I am sure that there will be plenty of car spaces for those arriving by public transport. We will finally move on to the Crofton Roman Villa where the curator will give us a guided tour. 11 June A visit to Fort Halstead Includes light lunch. Walking shoes and ID needed There are only a few places left for this trip To book a place on either visit contact Peter Leigh, details inside front cover

5 Bromleag March 2010 News Bromley’s lost memorials go online Records of thousands of people who lived in Bromley and district over a period of many centuries are now featured on the Kent Archaeological Society’s website. Paul Triton of the KAS approached BBLHS for information about surviving tombstones and pictures. Our vice-chair Michael Rawcliffe provided four pre- war photos of the church together with a more recent one taken by Max Batten, The records, in the form of memorial inscriptions [MIs] on gravestones, tombs and monuments at the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Bromley, were noted by an anonymous antiquarian who visited the church in 1829 and by Richard Holworthy, a former Kent County Council archivist, who transcribed the inscriptions about 90 years ago. Since then many of the memorials have been lost, rendered illegible, or were destroyed when the medieval church, within which there were about 100 monuments, was bombed in an air raid on April 16, 1941. Only the tower survived. Fortunately Holworthy’s transcriptions were published in The British Archivist in 1915, a copy of which survived among the papers that Leland Lewis Duncan of Lewisham, antiquarian and author, left to the Kent Archaeological Society when he died in 1923. Until now the transcriptions could only be read by those able to visit the KAS library in Maidstone, but all of them are now online and accessible free of charge. Among the Bromley parishioners recorded in the MIs are:  Elizabeth (‘Tetty’) Johnson, ‘beautiful, elegant, talented, dutiful’, wife of Dr Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer and essayist. She died in 1752 although her gravestone bore the date 1753.  Mary Ann Gayton, the schoolmistress who taught William Ewart Gladstone to read.  Robert Booth Rawes, believed locally to have been the original of Charles Dickens’s Pickwick.  Thomas Chase, who survived the Lisbon earthquake, tsunami and great fire of 1755 in which 90,000 people died. He was buried in the ruins of the house where he was born in 1729 and, ‘by Degrees recover’d from a very deplorable condition’.  William Ledger, ‘robbed on earth by pretended friends/now beyond their power and sphere/As thieves and robbers cannot enter there’.

6 Bromleag March 2010 News

An archive photograph of St Peter & St Paul’s showing some of the many gravestones that could be found in the churchyard before the 1941 air raid. Photograph courtesy of Michael Rawcliffe,.

 Martine French, who was buried with four of his wives and two daughters. He died on January 12, 1661. His last wife died the following day.  Thomas West and his wife Elizabeth, whose MI provides details of nine related families: Glenring, Hyde, Keysen, Lawson, Luard, Nicholls, Seymour, Vokins and Wollaston.  Bishop Zachary Pearce who died on June 29, 1774, ‘in a comfortable hope of being promoted to a happier place in Heaven, what was the chief aim of all his labours upon earth’. The memorials to Tetty Johnson and Bishop Pearce were salvaged from the bombed church and re-erected in the new one. The names and performances of some of the church’s bellringers are also recorded. In 1774 the ‘Youths of Bromley’ rang a half quarter peal of ‘Bob Major’ (5,050 changes), to celebrate the recasting of the bells. In January 1817 the Society of Bromley Youths rang a complete peal of Grandsire Triples (5,040 changes) with muffled bells, in memory of William Chapman, a ringer in Bromley for 43 years, and rang ‘upwards of 60 peals – ‘the first Dumb Peal of this kind ever Rang in this Kingdom’. In 1902 The Kent County Association of Change Ringers rang Gabriel Lindoff’s peal of Kent treble Bob Major (5,088 changes) to mark the rehanging of the bells. In 1904 members of the KCACR rang a peal of Grandsire Triples (5,040 changes) with muffled bells, at the funeral of Rev. Arthur Gresley Hellicar, curate and then vicar of Bromley for 43 years. To view the MIs visit www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/research , then click on Bromley in the ‘Churchyards MIs’ list in ‘Library & Visual Records’.

7 Bromleag March 2010 News Local history publications for sale Bromley Local Histories No 1 – 10 For some years the Society produced a local history publication on a regular basis. Ten issues were produced in all – which have variously been in and out of print over the years. However, stocks have been obtained of all ten publications which are now being offered at the following special prices.

1. Any one publication £2 + £1 UK p&p 2. Any six publications £10 + £2.50 UK p&p 3. Complete set of ten publications £15 +£3 p&p It should be noted that in a few cases rusting has occurred to the staples and the prices quoted reflect this. In addition a CD is available of all ten publications, which is also indexes, at a cost of £10 + 50p UK p&p. If this is ordered with the set of ten printed publications the combined cost is only £22 + £3 p&p.

Bromleag – the Society’s newsletter Limited numbers of copies of the following issues are available at the special price of any five copies for £1 plus £1 UK p&p.

1997 June, September 1998 March 1999 March 2000 July, October 2001 June, December 2002 March, September, December 2003 March, June, September, December 2005 December 2006 March, June, September In the event of an order being placed for an issue which is sold out an alternative – selected at random – will be provided.

An index to all the articles in Bromleag 1999 — 2009 and the contents lists for all ten publications are available via the Society’s web site http://bblhs.website.orange.co.uk/

8 Bromleag March 2010 News Other Publications Also available are copies of 1. The Long Alert 1937 – 1945 by Patricia Knowlden, which draws on her own experiences as Bromley’s youngest Air Raid Warden - £3.00 + 50p UK p&p 2. The Story of Beckenham Green by Pat Manning and Cliff Watkins, which traces the history of the area from 1858 – 2008 - £4.00 + 50p UK p&p 3. Orpington Remembered book and DVD by local film makers Footprint Productions - £10.00 + £1.00 UK p&p 4. Beckenham – The Home Front 1939 – 45 by Pat Manning and Cliff Watkins, telling the story of life on the Home Front through the eyes of over 50 local people - £8.00 + £1.50 UK p&p Please send orders with a cheque made payable to BBLHS to John Barnes, 38 Sandiland Crescent, Hayes, Bromley, BR2 7DR. Overseas postage If you are ordering from outside the UK please e-mail - [email protected] - or write to, John Barnes for a quote for total postage costs.

Exhibitions at Bromley Museum An Artist catches up with Orpington's big new building projects. 15 March to 26 April Three new schemes have recently taken shape in Orpington High Street - at the War Memorial (Tesco, and the rebuilt Hall), and at the Walnuts (College extension). Stephen Chaplin has been on hand, returning each month since 2007, to draw the work in progress. This exhibition opens up his portfolio of site drawings and watercolours. It also shows the follow-up oil studies. The centrepiece of the exhibition, however, consists of several bigger canvases recording the arrival of all three schemes. Alongside there will be images to evoke past scenes - back to 1940.

Forever Amber: Cray Wanderers 150th Anniversary 10 May to 28 June The Cray Wanderers Football Club – the second oldest in the country - mark their 150th anniversary this year (1860 - 2010). This exhibition celebrates the key events in the football club’s life.

9 Bromleag March 2010 Society meeting The story of the picture postcard By John Gent, who was the speaker at our November meeting The first postcards were issued in Austria in 1869 and the first British postcard was issued in 1870. Initially these were plain official cards with an embossed ½d stamp, half the letter rate. This rate brought complaints from the stationery trade so the charge of ½d per dozen was introduced in 1872 and they were only sold in this way. Anyone was soon allowed to print postcards but they had to look like the official cards – but without the coat of arms – and anything could be written or printed on the back, but not on the address side. After printing, the cards had to be sent to the Inland Revenue to have a ½d stamp printed or embossed on it. There was a Victorian feeling that the postcard was vulgar and there An early ‘Court’ card where the message and were comments on the illustration had to be on one side with only the absurdity of writing private address on the front information on an open piece of cardboard which might be read by half a dozen people before it reached its destination. From 1894 the production and use of privately printed postcards was allowed, using adhesive stamps. Many included small pictures. From 1902 the Divided Back postcard was introduced, with the message and address on one side and a full illustration on the other. There was a great variety of cards but of most interest to the local historian are the topographical and social history cards. Between 1900 and 1912 the postcard was the tabloid newspaper and telephone combined. Newspapers had few, if any, photographs at the time. Postcards covered every imaginable subject from aviation to zoos. There was competition between publishers, many small local firms, to bring out up-to-the- minute events cards. An example is an early morning train crash at East Croydon Station which was photographed and a postcard published, on sale and sent with a postmark of that afternoon.

10 Bromleag March 2010 Society meeting By 1914 800 million cards were sent in the UK and there were up to six or seven collections and deliveries each day. The First World War stemmed the flow of imported card [many printed in Germany] and in 1918 the postage rate was doubled to 1d. The telephone too was coming into more general use. Local view postcards continued in production until the 1960s but the number and variety fell dramatically. Today, apart from tourist areas, it is difficult to find local views, although a few are produced by local societies and individuals. The picture postcard is an invaluable record of our villages, towns and cities from the Edwardian age onwards and helps us to piece together their An example of a development, often providing the only known humorous card with the illustration of buildings, streets, people and events. name of a different town added as required.

A good real photographic card. This card also appeared with the newspaper advert changed to Latest Cricket Results. Cody was a famous aviator and was killed in a crash. The publisher of the card must have decided he did not want to bother to take a new photograph so instead altered the original negative. The publisher [C H Price] produced many cards of the Croydon area and on several he blanked out the name of a rival photographer above a shop.

11 Bromleag March 2010 letters Can anyone help record memories of WWII

I have many memories of WWII as I was 18 when the war started. I lived at Newlands Park, Sydenham and I was already married. My father was serving in the RAF, having originally joined the Royal Flying Corps [RFC] in 1916 and, in 1938, when Chamberlain came back from Germany with the Peace with Germany speech, we were already preparing for war. At that stage my father said we were totally unprepared. He knew what was going on. I joined the Red Cross as a Voluntary Aid Detachment [VAD] and took a few certificates in nursing, and I even have one for going into a gas chamber. I went up to the school building in the evening in Forest Hill to put gas masks together – all voluntary unpaid work of course. We put sand bags around the house and began to make black curtains for the windows so we could black everywhere out. We were getting ready in advance as Dad said it was coming. When the War started and the men were being called up, my first husband joined the RAF with my brother and they went off for training to Blackpool. My sister-in-law and I joined them up there as the men were put into boarding houses and billeted on the landladies. I travelled around the country and stayed near the camps where my husband was stationed and sometimes worked as a VAD on camps. I had two babies during the war years and soon after the birth of my second daughter my husband was posted to South Africa. After the war ended he came back but was a changed man. In 1952 I was divorced and re-married. I survived many bombing raids in different places. One I remember very well was being driven in a car through Bristol down a road with fires burning in houses on both sides of the street – a very nasty experience. My home in Newlands Park was destroyed by a flying bomb in 1944. Luckily I was away at the time but when I went back to look I stayed at my brother’s house. We had to salvage what furniture we could to store in his house, also in Newlands Park. I am more or less housebound now but I have many wartime stories which I would love to relate if someone would like to record them

Doris Pullen If anyone would like to record Doris’s wartime memories for the Local History Society or for Bromley Local Studies archive please get in touch with the editor.

12 Bromleag March 2010 letters Recollections of the Lennard Hospital I was delighted to read Dr Thomas’s article about The Lennard Hospitals. My father Thomas Tubb was appointed laboratory assistant in 1929 and remained at the hospital until 1953 when he moved to King Edward VII hospital Windsor as laboratory technician. I have a photograph taken in 1951 at the retirement of Sister Pollock as well as photographs of other members of staff if they would be of interest to anyone researching the history of the hospital. When my father died in 1972 all his paperwork concerning his employment at the hospital was filed. It shows his early salary as £1 a week. I also have a photograph of the choir at St Augustine’s Church, Bromley Common which may interest readers. Thank you for all the work that goes into producing such an interesting magazine. I look forward to every edition. Rosemary Mitchell, Thornbury, Gloucestershire. [email protected]

I was very interested to read Dr Adrian Thomas’s article on the old Lennard Hospital which appeared in the December 2009 issue of Bromleag, especially because of his reference to a record dated 1934. Twenty years ago I tried to find information about patients from that time, but failed. As I was one of those patients I was curious to know why, from memory, I was in the hospital for several months. The best I could do was to turn up an excellent article in an early Bromleage written by a Mr B Woodward. His article, based on his admittance in 1918, nevertheless coincided with some of my early childhood memories which I have set out below. Recollections from 76 years back, but how reliable are they? These are still in my memory but have I got them right? In 1933 I was five years old and stricken with scarlet fever. I lived at 92B Crystal [Palace] Park Road, and can recall being taken to the ambulance. I remember going in to the ward through a doorway of a red bricked building. I have always been under the impression that I spent both Christmas and my birthday in hospital. That is six months which seems a long time for scarlet fever even though my mother always talked of scarlet fever with complications. She never told me what the complications were, although my sister still remembers my coming home with long curly hair and a broad cockney accent. My mother had always spoken immaculately just as her children were taught to

13 Bromleag March 2010 Letters do, but my accent must have been her despair because I never completely lost the style. I remember a toy fire engine going under a bed, which upset me because I could not reach it and I think this was a Christmas present, never to be seen again. I also remember being given a white foul tasting tablet which smelled like TCP. I took it from my mouth and deposited it under the mattress. I still detest the smell. I always thought I spent time in six wards. They were numbered 1 – 6 although one was named ‘Cubicles’ where I stayed on two occasions. When I arrived I think I went to Ward 6 and from there to Ward 1. Cubicles ward number I don’t know. From memory, Cubicles consisted of several small outdoor rooms linked by a veranda and they fronted onto a tar macadam yard like a small playground. This sloped downward to iron railings which fenced off a railway line. (Something is obviously wrong here because there is no railway line near the hospital site!). My mother said she travelled from Sydenham to the hospital – a long journey by more than one bus. Was it on more than one occasion? Was it just to peer through the gates to see me at play? It was while in Cubicles that I seem to recollect her being there at the gates. Tom Manthorpe. [email protected]

Defending Jazz at Stratford House Further to the article on P19 Bromleag December 2009 on Marian McPartland [Turner] and Miss Hammond’s school. Marian later went to Stratford House School in Bickley where she made a notable musical contribution in the 1930s. Music teacher Miss Purden had written the words for a school song which Margaret set to music. The song was sung for three or four years, but did not really catch on. Margaret Turner was gifted musically and was particularly interested in jazz. In 1934 she vigorously opposed the motion debated at school that “composers of jazz have rendered a disservice to music” . Susan Pittman Susan has also sent this delightful 1935 picture of girls taking part in a group piano lesson. Six girls are learning to play the piano on cardboard keyboards and three share the piano.

14 Bromleag March 2010 Book review Pratts Bottom – a journey through life Geoffrey Copus reviews a new local history by Sue Short

Local historians are notoriously territorial in their attitude and inclined to feel threatened by others researching the histories of “their” parishes. When Sue Short first contacted me some years ago about her proposed history of Pratts Bottom, which was anciently in Chelsfield parish, I naturally offered her any help I might be able to give, but felt doubtful about the end result. Starting pretty well from scratch, would she really be able to produce such an ambitious book covering the many centuries from prehistoric times up to the present day ? In the event, I was completely won over by the result – a hardback production of 447 pages. As an historian of the old school once remarked to me, “local history is such a large cake that we can all cut a large slice”, and Sue’s book proves that point. Because my connection with Chelsfield is somewhat tenuous, and based largely on documentary research, I felt it prudent to limit the time-scale when writing my book on the parish. Sue on the other hand has come right up to date and has included reminiscences and photographs from present-day inhabitants which otherwise would almost certainly have been lost. For this alone the book would be a valuable addition to our knowledge, but she has also included much research on earlier periods and has been scrupulous in acknowledging her sources. I was particularly pleased at her reference to my old friend Bill Morton of Crofton. The numerous drawings by Alan Wheeler are another delight. I was touched by the reminiscences of Fairtrough Farm by another contributor, Phil Sweet, whose family lived there from 1961 to 1980. I remember receiving a warm welcome there in the seventies when we paid a surprise visit with an American descendant of the Jackson family, who had farmed the land two centuries and more before. Sue has performed a valuable work in producing the charts on pages 405-444, with details of field names and Pratts Bottom families from early times up to the present day, taken from many different sources.

15 Bromleag March 2010 Book review Naturally, in a work of this nature which has contributions from so many different people, it would not be difficult to pick some holes – another favourite occupation of local historians, I fear. If I may be permitted one such criticism, I would like to know the origin of the list of landlords of the Bull’s Head. I believe it is displayed there today but I have to say that I do not recognise any of the names given before those of the early 19th century, which could have been taken from printed directories. In trying to name a similar work covering such a wide field I think the best comparison would be to those two remarkable volumes the Goudhurst Jubilee and Coronation Books of the 1930s – and that is praise indeed. Sue writes in her foreword that she conceived the book as a tribute to her husband John, killed in a road accident in 1993, and that the work involved has helped her through the very difficult period in her life since then. We must indeed be grateful that this tragedy was the means of generating such a valuable and fascinating contribution to the history of the district.

Ghostly skirmish on the Knox-Johnson’s lawn Watching Robin Knox-Johnson on television recently I was reminded of something I heard of, a number of years ago now. I was investigating old trees for an exhibition at High Elms and somebody mentioned a haunted tree at The Rookery in Downe. At the time Robin’s mother was still living there and I had the temerity to ring her up. The tree in question grew on the lawn between the house and the lane, and the tale was that a Royalist Cavalier had been hanged from one of its branches by a group of Roundhead soldiers during the Civil War, after a skirmish in which they had clearly come off the best. When the Knox-Johnsons had moved in, oh! many years ago when Robin and his brother were just teenagers, their parents had been woken during the night by voices and sounds like swords clashing, as if the skirmish was happening all over again; but by the time they got to the window all was quiet again and there was nothing to be seen. And it never happened again. I wonder whether Robin Knox-Johnson remembers this incident? Patricia Knowlden

16 Bromleag March 2010 Letters/Feature The forgotten house of Milk Street By Simon Finch Mike Thacker contacted BBLHS and Bromley Library about his grandfather Saul Thacker: “He lived in Vale House Milk Street off Burnt Ash Lane. To my knowledge this was the only house in Milk Street and stood on the right hand side approaching the bridge at the end, this property was 200 years old and came with three acres of land. He rented this property for about 36 years and carried on a dairy business for all that period on his own. Later he had the help of his son Percy from around 1930 - 1950's. “I have been told that originally the house had Royal connections as a weekend retreat. I would be grateful for any help with the past, copies of old photos, documents or just memories of the family, house, or business.” Simon Finch carried out research for Mike and has traced the house in records in the archives. His findings are printed below but does anyone else have any knowledge of Vale House and its possible ‘Royal’ connections?

he histories of Bromley almost completely ignore Vale House in Milk Street. Situated as it is on the northern edge of the parish; even the 1982 T publication Not a mile from Milk Street by Andrew Martin has very little to say about it but the author does provide useful information to begin a search. The first mention of Milk Street in our collection at Bromley Library is on the John Rocque Map of London (1744). This includes an unnamed building on the site of Vale House but it is impossible to tell if it is the same as the later house. The Andrews Dury & Herbert Map of Kent (1769) also marks Milk Street and lists several houses in Milk Street one of which is the seat of William Wilson Esq. although this is more likely to refer to Hall’s Farm than Vale House. The map accompanying the Tithe Apportionment of 1841, shows the land on the site of the house as owned by the heirs of Thomas Dowley and occupied by William Pershouse. The largest building on the plot is further south than the site of Vale House but there are buildings on the site of the house, one of which is large enough to be a cottage. Dowley had been a corn factor who was living in Milk Street with his father, James and wife Mary at the time of the birth of his son James in 1801, the entry in the parish register is confusing but it suggests the name of the house at the time was India House. Perhaps this is the large building on the 1841 map. I have found no other mention of this name.

17 Bromleag March 2010 Feature

Andrews Dury & Herbert map of Kent, 1769

Dowley had at least three further children but these were with Sarah Hawes. Presumably these children were the heirs of Thomas described in the apportionment. His later address is given as Plaistow Green, about half a mile to the south. It is interesting that both 18th century maps show Milk Street as a substantial thoroughfare but the later ones truncate it before reaching Hall’s Farm. William Pershouse was another interesting character. Born at Tipton in Staffordshire c.1797 he married Rachel Walter on 9 August 1822 at St. Alphages Church, Greenwich. He was a farmer and horse dealer based in Greenwich where he had a farm in Trafalgar Road but in the 1830s and 40s at least he also farmed at Vale House (India House?) Further land was rented from Dowley and Sir Samuel Scott of Sundridge Park, a substantial local landowner. Pershouse appears numerous times in the records of the Old Bailey, usually the victim of theft but on one occasion charged with perjury (found not guilty). He appears to have gone bankrupt in 1848.He had a son, also William, who died at the Unicorn Dairy, Albany Road, Camberwell on 14 September 1873.

18 Bromleag March 2010 Feature By 1851 Pershouse has left, his bankruptcy a likely cause. Assuming the census enumerators were consistent in the way they listed the properties in Milk Street (I can’t be certain of this) the next resident was John Wakeling an agricultural labourer originally from Green Street Green, Farnborough. Presumably he worked at the neighbouring Hall’s Farm. He is of much lower status than any of the other recorded occupants of the property so the property might have been in a bad way, the large building marked on the tithe map that I’ve called India House could have been demolished leaving only a small cottage or the 1851 enumerator counted from the other end of the road. If this Ordnance Survey Kent Sheet VIII 9, 1895 is the case, the occupier was William Lane, a carpenter originally from St Mary Cray, he like later occupants had a live in servant. The next occupant listed (in 1861) is Richard Adams, a retired builder originally from Canterbury. He seems to have remained there until shortly before his death aged 87 on 5 June 1877. The first edition Ordnance Survey map published c.1861 shows the large building (India House?) has definitely gone by this time, the twentieth century shape of Vale House is beginning to appear. In 1881 the house is unoccupied while 10 years later, George Beck, a retired farmer is living there with his son Edward, also a farmer. At neighbouring Hall’s Farm another son Thomas is farming. The family were originally from Handley, a small village in West Cheshire and all George’s children were born around there, only his five month old granddaughter was born in Bromley, this suggests they had not been in residence long. According to the street directories the family arrived around 1887 but were gone by 1893, Thomas however continues at Hall’s Farm.

19 Bromleag March 2010 Feature The next available map is 1895 and this shows slight changes from 1861. The building is larger and it is possible the north end has been rebuilt. From 1898, Vale House or Vale Cottage as it was then known starts to appear in the local street directories for the first time. Occupiers come and go frequently. The next map (1909) shows very little change from 1895.

1898 Ernest Searle 1999 -1900 F. Kitson 1900 - 1901 Edward Cox 1901-1907 Herbert Vigers (practising accountant). Mr Vigers ran his own business and in 1901 lived with his wife Jenie and two servants. 1907-1909 Ernest Dubois 1909-1913 Kilburn E. Scott. Mr Scott was a consulting civil engineer. He appears to have used Vale House as an office as he is not listed as resident in the 1911 census, although it is listed as his dwelling house in the Burgess Rolls. Perhaps he had another home outside Bromley and only lived at the farm occasionally. From this point the name Vale House is used consistently. 1913-1914 James Hearn. Mr Hearn was the proprietor of Hearns Brothers, butchers; a shop in Freelands Road. I don’t know if he lived at the farm or over the shop. As with Mr Scott he may have split his time between the two. Presumably the farm supplied the shop. 1914- c.1916 Ashley Rook c.1917-1955 Saul Thacker. Unfortunately there are no records of occupation for 1917 so I cannot tell exactly which year Saul arrived. At first he is listed simply as a private resident but from 1923, the house was listed as Vale House Dairy. The 1937 map shows no change from 1909 suggesting few alterations were needed to the buildings when the dairy was set up. Saul appears to have handed the business over to his son, Percy, in the early 1950s, as from 1953 the business is run by S. Thacker & Sons Ltd. By February 1957 the Thackers have left, replaced by Alfred and Molly Payne. They were Vale House’s last residents. There is no evidence that they continued to run the dairy. In 1959 the Bromley Council minutes report that the site of the farm is owned by the council’s health department. Apparently there had been plans to use it as an extension to Plaistow Cemetery, but the council was in the process of changing its mind, instead they wanted to use it for council housing. The map of that year again shows little change to the building but the boundary behind the house is no longer shown. The house is situated at the front of a large plot that directly borders the cemetery behind. Could this indicate a change in land ownership since 1937?

20 Bromleag March 2010 Feature/News There is no record of when the council acquired the land and it was transferred into housing association ownership in 1992. In December 1961 a company called Agombar were awarded the contract to build council flats on the site of Vale House; the Paynes are listed as resident for the last time in February 1962 and the house was demolished shortly after that. The flats are still standing.

Sources Rocques map of London 1744 Andrews Dury & Herbert map of Kent, 1769 Tithe map and apportionment of the Parish of Bromley, 1841 Ordnance Survey Kent Sheet VIII 9, 1861 – 1959 Parish Registers of St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church, Bromley (Bromley Archives; ref P/47/1) The Proceedings of the Old Bailey. http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/forms/formMain.jsp Census records of Bromley 1801 – 1911

Appeal for return of Darwin notebook English Heritage has made an appeal for the return of a notebook of Charles Darwin’s handwritten observations made on his trip to the Pacific, which went missing over 25 years ago. The notebook, which is registered with the Art Loss Register, disappeared after being left on a study table in Down House which was within easy reach of visitors. The notebook is bound in leather with a brass clasp and contains the scientist’s pencil observations made during his trip to the Galapagos Islands. The appeal for the missing notebook comes as EH publishes Darwin’s remaining 14 notebooks and a microfilm of the missing notebook on the internet. The notebooks and 300 sketches by Darwin are at English- heritage.cor.uk/darwin Biggin Hill on IRA bombing list Biggin Hill Aerodrome was among a list of military bombing targets for the IRA according to files released recently by the National Archives. The list found in an IRA bomb factory in north London, on December 16, 1975, contained 19 military locations which were singled out for attack. Number 13 was the Biggin Hill Aerodrome which was used by the RAF at the time.

21 Bromleag March 2010 Society meeting The artistic legacy of Miss Fanny Shepherd’s school By Leonard Smith

n the early years of the 19th century Miss Fanny Shepherd opened a school for ‘older girls’ on Bromley Common. It quickly became known for a I new attitude to female education, particularly in the teaching of art. Fanny, the daughter of a clergyman, was a pioneer of young ladies education and had been influenced by the Swiss educational reformer Pestalozzi, whom she had met in 1818. The school soon established an excellent reputation, which attracted widow Mrs Best to send her two talented daughters there in 1824. Rosamond and Mary Ellen Best were born in York in the early 19th century. Rosamond was a few years older than Mary Ellen Best [1809 – 1891] and they were the daughters of a doctor and talented water colourist who was attached to a local asylum where conditions were extremely poor. As a result Dr Best’s health suffered, he became ill and in 1817 he died while recuperating in Nice. But he had provided for his family including funds for his daughters education. Mrs Best returned to York in 1818 and, when she received an inheritance on the death of her own father, the girls were sent to a boarding school in Doncaster, run by Mr and Mrs Haugh, which had acquired a literary reputation and where the teaching of drawing and painting was a strong point. Mr Haugh was a qualified art master and a successful painter, which benefited Ellen who had inherited the artistic talent of her father. By the age of 12 she could paint reasonable portraits and scenes. Ellen and Rosamond’s lessons in art continued at Miss Shepherds although it is not possible to say who taught them. There was probably more than one drawing master and they may even have had lessons from Amelia Long, Lady Farnborough, a talented painter who lived at Bromley Hill Place. Miss Shepherd was on social terms with many local aristocratic families. Miss Shepherd profoundly influenced the sisters, teaching them to become independent, organised and family minded. They left the school in 1828 but Miss Shepherd was to remain a life long friend. Ellen developed as an expert water colour artist with a passion for detail, especially interiors. Her paintings give us a unique view of the early 19th century, both in England and on the continent.

22 Bromleag March 2010 Feature In 1834 - 35 Ellen made two European tours, possibly met her future husband, and returned to York in 1835. Her mother died in 1837 following which she spent a month at Bromley Common with Miss Shepherd. She took a third European tour in 1838, mainly Holland and Germany, but all the time she travelled she continued to paint. Ellen was now an attractive young woman, judging by her self-portrait in 1839 and she become engaged to Johann Anton Phillip Sarg, a German music teacher. They were married in York on 15 January 1840. Rosamond may have had mixed feelings over her sister’s marriage, being happily married herself and not wishing her brother-in-law to be German and Ellen to live in Germany. Ellen and her husband left England for Nuremburg in June 1840. She continued painting, maintaining the quality of watercolours, but reducing her output as during the next three years three children were born. In 1845 she visited both Rosamond and family in York and Miss Shepherd. The sisters association with Bromley Common continued for many years, both sisters returned for numerous and quite long visits and Rosamond’s three daughters were educated at Miss Shepherd’s school. After a number of different homes in Belguim, Holland and Germany, Ellen’s painting declined. Her husband died in 1883 and she died, aged 81, in 1891 near Darmstadt. Her last known painting was in 1860. Out of an estimated total of 1,350 paintings three hundred and seventy have been traced. How many of these maybe of the Bromley locality?

23 Bromleag March 2010 Feature In 1983 forty-seven of her water colour paintings were sold at Sotheby’s in New York. The red brick Georgian house, Elmfield, used by Miss Shepherd as a school still exists. In the 1850s the Norman family, who lived next door at The Rookery, purchased it. And it is still a private home. Built around 1727 it is on the A21 just to the north of Bromley College, behind a fence and trees. Miss Shepherd remained at Elmfield until she retired in 1850, becoming a friend of the Normans. The last member of the Norman family to occupy the house was Mrs Julia Packe, widow of Lt Col Packe DSO. She was the daughter of Arthur Norman, who was the last owner of The Rookery. When his house was requisitioned by the War Department in 1940 he moved in with his daughter. During the last war the Royal Air Force structurally altered the interior of The Rookery for use as a plotting centre. Tragically, following WWII The Rookery was totally destroyed by fire. It is now the site of Bromley College.

For further reading including forty-seven examples of Mary Ellen Best’s water colour paintings: Caroline Davidson: The World of Mary Ellen Best: Chatto and Windus 1985

Snippets – educational Bromley 1716 Bromley Charity Schools were established at Masons Hill to teach 10 poor boys and 10 girls to read and write and for instruction in the Christian religion … and “such other things as are useful to their condition and capacity.” 1854 A bigger school needed, so the Parish School was built on land given by the Bishop of Rochester at College Road, with room for 450 pupils, and cottages for the head teachers. 1810 The children were given suitable warm clothing, with in 1810 cost the Trustees £27. 14s. 4d for 24 outfits. This was financed by an annual Charity Sermon in the church.

24 Bromleag March 2010 Feature Wandering through West Wickham

by Joyce Walker efore the 1834 Poor Law Act the poor of the parish of West Wickham had been entirely the responsibility of the local overseers of the poor. B These overseers were appointed annually by the governing body of the parish – the vestry. St John’s Poor Rate Books have survived from 1763 and it is from these that a graphic picture of Poor Law administration at parish level emerges. But it was not only the poor of the parish who were cared for. Some of the flotsam and jetsam of human miser found their routes taking them through West Wickham. There were many travellers with passes returning to their places of settlement, vagrants, soldiers, sailors and others returning from the continental wars, and shipwrecked sailors! Eighteen hundred and two was a particularly busy year for John Alexander a carpenter, and Thomas Kemp, a farmer, who were serving their term as overseers of the poor. The following are the entries for that year relating to soldiers and sailors:

1802 5 June Gave 2 Soldiers’ wives with a pass each to Chatham 2/- 3 July Gave a poor Soldier and wife and other people 1/- Gave 6 soldiers from the prison 1/- Gave 4 sailors who had been shipwrecked 1/- Sept Reliev’d 29 American Seamen on their way to Dover 10/6d Gave a poor Sailor to go to the Hospital 1/- Gave 2 Sailors and a family with a pass 6d

The American seamen must have caused quite a stir when they waited in The Swan for their half a guinea!

25 Bromleag March 2010 Feature Bromley’s phantom Civil Service College By Patricia Knowlden mong my husband Geoffrey’s papers is a green folder labelled A St George’s College, Bromley. His father acquired it shortly before the war when Geoffrey left school – Bromley Grammar School in Hayes Lane. Never having heard of St. George’s College I was intrigued and thought it should be investigated. But no mention of it could I find anywhere in Bromley records. The College appeared to offer whole, part-time and correspondence courses on subjects covered in Civil Service qualifying exams and the folder gave “general directions to students and special notes” and contained an awe- inspiring collection of worksheets and exam papers on such subjects as maths and logs, trigonometry, précis writing and general knowledge, the most recent being dated 1938. The founder’s name was Mr W Braginton, MA, FKC, and the then Director of Studies was Miss B Braginton, BA: “late the Civil Service Dept. of King’s College, London, and now St George’s College, Red Lion Square, WCI and Bromley Kent” So I wrote to King’s College who very kindly told me quite a bit about their Civil Service department and Mr Braginton – up to 1912. In the 1870s William Braginton had begun to hold evening lectures to coach young men for the Civil Service entrance exams. In 1875 the Government decided that its lower grades of clerkship should be competitive, as was the top grade. Braginton suggested he should hold his classes at King’s College. This was agreed and was a most successful move, the numbers of entrants rising from 176 to 866 in the first seven years. In 1881 arrangements were made to admit young women to the College - by the side door - for “evening female Post Office clerkship classes”. Braginton had a particular interest in the education of girls, having five daughters of his own. In 1891 he proposed to institute day classes, for intending boy clerks and copyists, telegraphists, learners in customs and excise and in tax collection; these classes produced 50% of successful applicants worldwide for Government posts for many years. It was a year later that correspondence courses began and from then on every year a couple of hundred students received practical guidance by post. Continually developing, the various departments of King’s College tended to change sites from time to time. In 1912 the Civil Service Department moved to

26 Bromleag March 2010 Feature “premises in Kingsway” and, renamed St George’s College, disappears from the records of King’s College. Some time before 1900 William Braginton brought his family to live in Bromley, in Tweedy Road. He was described in the 1901 census as a head teacher of a school, aged 56, the same age as his wife Sophia. Their two elder daughters, Sophia and Blanche aged 38 and 33, were described as school lecturers - this is 1901! - and a third daughter, Edith, as clerk, perhaps keeping the college books. Ellen was a kindergarten teacher, so the question is whether Braginton also ran a school for younger pupils. Dorothy was only 14. By 1912 they had moved to St Albans in Highland Road where they were to remain for more than ten years – “house and premises” but the rate assessment in Bromley’s Little Domesday that year did not indicate commercial premises such as a school. One suspects the move from King’s College to ‘premises in Kingsway’ in 1912 was actually to Red Lion Square on its east. By 1921 we find at No2 St. George’s College, principal William Braginton. At the age of 76 he was head of St. George’s Civil Service and Army College for boys, while next-door Miss B Braginton presided over St. George’s College for girls. By 1926 the premises appeared in Kelly’s Directory as simply St. George’s College for Civil Service and Business, and just before the war the same name but added in brackets [Braginton’s] Ltd. William Braginton died in 1922. His joint legatees were his daughters and by 1926 they were all living at 125 London Road. In 1929 there were only three sisters on the voters’ list: Blanche, Edith and Ellen. Ten years later one remains, presumably Blanche as it was her name on the College folder. But there is a mystery here, because Geoffrey says his father got the folder from the College premises on Mason’s Hill, next door to Clark’s College [no apparent connection] on the corner of Hayes Lane. This is an area Geoffrey knows well because he only lived a few streets away. This was the address of Bromley Commercial and Civil Service Training College whose principal was Ernest James Marsland. A few years before, Kelly’s Directory listed these premises, No 46, as Heath House. Ernest Marsland had moved his college there in about 1930 from Widmore Road, where he had established it in 1918/19, just after the Great War. Were the two colleges connected in the 1930s? By then Blance Braginton was in her 60s, but her name was still linked to the correspondence course at least. One thing does seem certain, that St George’s College never had an actual physical presence in Bromley itself. Does any reader know anything about it?

27 Bromleag March 2010 Feature The legacy of the Crystal Palace exhibition

Bill Tonkin continues the story of the early years of the great exhibition, looking at its educational legacy

t soon became obvious that the Great Exhibition was going to be an enormous success and Prince Albert started looking round for a large plot I of land to purchase with the anticipated profits. The prince’s plan was to set up an educational centre, which he felt the country badly needed and a thirty-acre site was found at South Kensington, for £50,000. When the exhibition closed after 23 weeks the full scale of the success became apparent. Over six million visitors had visited the exhibition, which had made an enormous profit of £186,000. By the terms of their charter the Commissioners were free to spend this profit on any subject related to further exhibitions or educational projects. The prince realised that there was no provision for disbanding the Commissioners. They could carry on as long as they liked, and in fact the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition are still meeting regularly to this day. As it was when it was first formed with a Royal Consort as president, so today another Royal Consort, The Duke of Edinburgh is president. During its long history a member of the Royal family has always held the position of president. The South Kensington Museum was the first educational establishment to be built on the site and was opened on 20 June 1857. Next, in 1859, a large ornamental garden, covering 20 acres, was laid out by the Royal Horticultural Society on ground leased to them by the 1851 for 35 years at a very low rent. They fell behind with the rent and in 1882 they were asked to vacate the plot. They were finally evicted in 1888. On 1 May 1862 another international exhibition was opened at the South Kensington site, 16 acres was given rent free for the exhibition, then sold to the Government. Prince Albert was unfortunately not alive to see it having died on the 14 December the previous year at the young age of 42. This exhibition did not repeat the success of the 1851 exhibition, although the number of visitors was slightly up it made a loss of £11,000. Plans to build the Albert Hall - estimated to cost £200,000 - went ahead and the Commissioners gave a site on a 999-year lease at a rent of 1/- [2.5p] per year and a guarantee for £50,000 towards the cost. It was opened in May 1871. In the 1878 report of the Commissioners they could point to a dozen institutions on the South Kensington estate, but there was serious concern that

28 Bromleag March 2010 Feature the country was slipping behind other countries in educating the people who would later would be running our industries. We had made no progress since 1862 and other countries were forging ahead. The City & Guilds Technical Institution was incorporated in 1879 and a building fund was started by the four great companies, the Goldsmiths, Fishmongers, Clothworkers and Cordwainers to build a Central Institute at Kensington, to which they would give £50,000 if the Commissioners would give a site at Kensington on a 999 year lease at a peppercorn rent. The £50,000 was later increased to £66,000 and the Institute was opened in June 1884. The Imperial Institute would cater for British and colonial students and it was suggested the Commissioners should provide £3,000 to £4,000 a year - this was later reduced to £1,000 - for the laboratories. In 1887 a site worth £100,000 was earmarked for the Institute and a charter was granted in 1888. The Commissioners made it clear that in future their funds would be dedicated to the creation of technical and scientific scholarships. The final budget for the building was £161,597 and it was opened by the Queen in 1893. It did not prosper and by 1902 it and the 999-year lease at £5 per year, was taken over by the Government. The Commissioners had been interested in the founding of a Science Museum at Kensington since 1876 when they offered money and a site for the project. This had been renewed in 1910 and accepted. The estimated cost then was between £350,000 and £400,000 of which the Commissioners promised £40,000. The First World War brought things to a halt and it was not until 1928 that the first part was completed. This cost £270,000 of which the Commissioners donated £35,000, with a further payment due in 1934 to complete the building. But by this time the Commissioners outlay for scholarships and bursaries had increased to a point where they could not afford both their scholarships and the Science Museum. In 1935 they reported that: “since 1891 we have turned out 600 scholars and no fewer than 40 Fellows of the Royal Society.” In view of this splendid achievement the Government agreed Under construction: early to release them from their obligation to pay stages of the Crystal Palace towards the completion of the Science Museum.

29 Bromleag March 2010 Feature The successful science scholarship scheme was forging ahead, with the annual expenditure rising from £5,000 in 1892 to £6,000 in 1908. A marvellous example of how the Great Exhibition and the huge profit it generated resulted in a science that was not dreamt of in 1851was Ernest Rutherford, a student from New Zealand who won a scholarship and free travel to Britain for advanced education. He was later elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in1903 and won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1908. At the Cavendish Laboratories he was the first scientist to split the atom. Rutherford’s story was not their only success, at a centenary dinner held in 1991 the Commissioners were able to proudly announce they had made awards to 1,400 scholars since 1891, of these 130 became Fellows of the Royal Society, 10 were awarded a Nobel Prize and five gained an Order of Merit. Albert was one of the first to realise the importance of linking museums and galleries with teaching institutes, and this has remained the central theme of the South Kensington site to this day. In 1996 the site consisted of eight major institutions with three museums dominating the site, the Science Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Natural History Museum. Others are the Royal Albert Hall, the Imperial College of Science and Technology, the Royal College of Art, The Geological Museum and the Royal College of Music. It draws 5,000,000 visitors a year, has 6,000 employees and 8,000 students.

Greek Slave: although in 1851 there were no page three pin ups there was no shortage of titillation at the exhibition. In fact the statuary section must have looked like the Windmill Theatre in its’hey- day. The most famous statue was undoubtedly the Greek Slave by the American Hiram Powers (hands chained in front). The Greek Slave was displayed in the American section on a stand with red plush curtains falling from a cupola on top and the statue was mounted on a revolving base. .

30 Bromleag March 2010 Feature The history of Well Wood By Patricia Knowlden rees and their wood have always been an essential part of life. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 T “Wicheham” had enough cleared farmland to support 24 families yet enough woodland remained to provide necessary raw materials. The earliest record of woods in this part of Wickham is in 1477 when William Bolle owed rent for “half an acre of wood called Burkett” … The next is in a survey of 1485 when the wide path running today through the middle was a road for wagons and horses. This joined the highway along the valley from Hayes to Keston. The wood was in a number of parcels held by different people, including the Lord of the Manor. Some manorial records survive from Tudor and Stuart times. The earliest estate map is dated 1632 and there is a Well Wood, though not yet named, rather smaller than today, part of which is labelled Ackerneland Grove… by 1772 this had become White Shaw. A deed for Towse Farm from 1806 lists Hazel Wood - which was cleared a few years ago – and Rouse’s Great Wood, or the part nearest to the farm. four- and-a-half acres next to Layham’s Road is described as waste. The name Well Wood does not appear yet. Early Ordnance Survey maps show the woods much as they are now. In 1859 the manorial lands were surveyed: White Shaw was “part ready to cut … pretty good but too full of timber” which would want thinning, and the waste area was by then known as Well Wood, and “tolerably good but if some of the old timber is taken away it would make a much greater return than it now does.” The whole wooded area is today called Well Wood, open to walk through and especially lovely when the bluebells are in flower. After all its changes in use and in ownership over the centuries it is being cared for by local people under their title of the Well Wood Conservation Volunteers.

Get more from your Society! Visit the web site for the latest information about meetings and visits. Why not have a look at "Can you help?" to see if you have the vital information researchers are looking for. www.bblhs.website.orange.co.uk

31 Bromleag March 2010 Bromley Local History Society Registered Charity No 273963 History is continually being made and at the same time destroyed, buildings are altered or demolished, memories fade and people pass away, records get destroyed or thrown in the bin. BBLHS was formed in 1974 so that those with an interest in the history of any part of the borough could meet to exchange information and learn more about Bromley’s history. We aim, in co-operation with the local history library, museums and other relevant organisations, to make sure at least some of this history is preserved for future generations. We hold regular meetings and produce a newsletter and occasional publications where members can publish their research. The society covers all those areas that are within the present day London Borough of Bromley and includes : - Anerley - Beckenham - Bickley -Biggin Hill - Bromley - Chelsfield - Chislehurst - Coney Hall - Cudham - Downe - Farnborough - Green Street Green -Hayes - Keston - Leaves Green - Mottingham - Orpington - Penge - Petts Wood - St. Mary Cray - St. Paul’s Cray - Shortlands - Sundridge Park - West Wickham.

http://bblhs.website.orange.co.uk/

Subscription Rates Yearly subscription from 1 January Individual £10.50; couple £12. Senior citizens pay a reduced rate of £8 per person or £10 for a couple. Members joining after 30 June pay half rates. Membership Secretary 020 8467 3842

32 Bromleag March 2010