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

AUTUMN 1984 PRICE 10p Free to Members Ten Years On! We seem to have let the occasion slip by last March, account of ‘Bromley and Around’ a hundred years ago, but in June a column in the Kentish Times began: ‘As the intended for Publication No. 7.:- Local History Society of Bromley Borough celebrates its Most of the villages and hamlets in and around Bromhey tenth year — ’ have been adopted by one or two members, but we are Thanks to our new P.R. man Peter Heinecke for a timely still looking for others who would be willing to take on a reminder. We should indeed celebrate. Our activities over few of the smaller areas, e.g. Widmore. So that there is the past ten years have been varied and enjoyable. Meet- a modicum of comparibility, Strong’s Directory for 1885 ngs are attended by a good proportion of members; we is being used as a starting point by everybody, but how _^ave held several exhibitions and have stands on occasions this is expanded from newspaper items and census such as Field Day and -in-London meetings. returns and so on will be up to each contributor — but The research done by those members who have a leaning guidance and help is always available, if wanted. We are that way has been published in a series of excellent book­ not looking to have the draft text ready before the end of lets. the year, so that no-one should feel under pressure. Our Newsletter, ‘Bromleage’, keeps everybody in touch None of the contributions need be very long. If you have and offers a vehicle for short articles (keep them coming not done any research before, why not have a go? please). It was also ten years ago in August, 1974 that the Some of our most successful meetings have been held in the first copy of ‘Bromleage’ was printed for us by Gordon further parts of the Borough; but we have not often looked Wright of Raven Studios in , and we wish to outside the Borough boundaries, and never actually ven­ offer him our sincere thanks for producing this newsletter tured outside the Borough boundaries on a Society outing. for us which is much appreciated. Perhaps we should think of doing so. Would members like There have been several society projects such as Field to comment on this? — or on what has been done up to Name Indexing and the Church Guide Survey. A more now? — or maybe make some other suggestions for the ambitious project is now under way, the production of an Society’s Second Decade? Patricia Knowlden.

Also if you have any queries that you think other people may help you with we will publish these and forward on any FUTURE replies. One query to start with: - Has anyone any informa­ tion about ‘Nurse Children’ in the area? (Children who MEETINGS were put out to another woman to nurse for any reason).□ SUNDRIDGE PARK Thursday Archaeology and the Cray Valley 15th Nov. Dr. Alan Hart An article on Sundridge Park and the Scott family in the Thursday The Pagan side of Christmas Society’s fourth publication, stated that the house was the 13th Dec. Geoff Doel combined work of Repton, Nash and Samuel Wyatt. The Thursday meetings are held at one of the halls above “... Repton, a landscape gardener earlier employed at Hol- the Central Library, Bromley and start at 7.45pm. wood by Pitt, became famous for his transformations and improvements to over two hundred houses and seats all over . He submitted his ‘Red Book’ for proposed improvements to Sundridge Park. It was his custom to make a survey, staying a day or two at the house, returning after one to three months with his red leather covered book CONTRIBUTIONS of black and white, and colour illustrated proposed altera­ It is hoped that most of you enjoy reading the articles about tions to landscape and to house. These ‘Red Books’ now the various aspects of local history that appear in these are of great value...” The article later informed that Lt pages. Col. D.V. Packs D.S.O., of Elmfield Have you, the readers, anything to impart about the local was the agent for his cousin Sir Samuel Scott Bart, of Sun­ history of any part of the London Borough of Bromley? dridge for thirty years until Sir Samuel’s death in 1943. Any stories, comments, histories, thoughts or short arti­ ‘‘Sundridge Park Management Centre” learned from cles that you may have, or may produce, are sure to interest Miss Packe, Colonel Packe’s daughter, that after her others and if you have anything please contact the editor, parents were dead, a red leather covered book had been whose address you will find at the foot of the last page. sent to Sotheby’s to be auctioned. The Management Centre Contributions could be on any aspect and a few ideas was able to locate and purchase the book, which proved to would be:- buildings, people, education, transport, medi­ be Repton’s “Red Book” for Sundridge Park. cal treatment, church life, shops, businesses, farm life and Bromley Library, having been informed that the book crops, the streets, local government, the Police and local had been found, was allowed to photograph the book page crime, water supply, gas and electricity supply, change of by page in colour. The set of photographs, suitably con­ use of land, clubs, societies, local sport, local politics, etc., tained in a red box, can be seen in the Local History Section etc. of the Central Library. □ The Car, 1920. In 1903 Frank Smith and his cousin, John Milroy, started a small business in Wellington Road, both of them having concessionaires who were G.N.U. Motor & Accessories had experience of motor cars going back to the very first Company of 111 Westbourne Grove, London, W, type introduced in England. This car was a two seater, finished in french-grey with Whilst they were operating from Wellington Road they fairly high sides and back with a dickey seat capable of produced in 1907 a 5cwt. solid tyre light delivery van for the accomodating two persons behind the driving seat. Under­ Orpington Hand Laundry operating in Road neath this dickey seat was ample room for spare parts and under Mrs. Wallace. tools. Lighting was provided by a dynamo outfit and the car The business prospered and soon they found their pre­ was said to be very comfortable and easy to drive. mises were too small. They therefore looked around for a larger site and found one at the end of the High Street on the corner of Perry Hall Road opposite to the Pond. This site was very suitable as the main road here was at its widest and there was a good draw in off the road. They obtained the site in 1912 and after the main building was put up they had it roofed in one span (80’ x 50’) to avoid any centre columns (which would thus have got in the way when moving cars) and equipped the premises with three lathes, two drilling machines, a shaping machine, overhead tackle capable of lifting a car bodily, a coal forge, a gas forge, an acetylene welding plant etc. A gas engine and dynamo provided the electric light, making them the first firm in Orpington to use this form of illumination. The firm had only really just got under way when the first war broke out and almost immediately one half of the employees went into the army where they remained until the end, though happily all were fortunate in returning unhurt, though some illness was suffered. The employees left behind, augmented by others not of military age, were engaged in making parts for trench bombs, rifle grenades and fuses with as many as six thousand items per week being turned out by day and night The light delivery van for the Orpington Hand Laundry outside the shifts. In 1914 Messrs. Smith & Milroy built a garage in Wellington Road premises, 1907. Church Hill which was also used on war production. From 1914 onwards the war items were driven to London by Mr A test run was performed by the “Light Car and Cyc- Frank Smith’s sister, Mrs. K. Scott-Murray, one of the first lecar”, which periodical reported in its issue dated women drivers. November 6th, 1920, that the car had no difficulty what­ After the war there was an enormous increase in the use soever in surmounting the first hill on Ranmore Common of motors and a large business was being done in recondi­ which had a gradient of 1 in 6 with an acute left-hand turn. tioning lorries, and additional buildings had to be erected. The car left a third of the hill behind it before a change of These buildings included a paint shop with a dust proof var­ gear became necessary and the bend was negotiated with nishing room, a carpenter’s shop, stores etc. and new and ease and the climb finished in second gear. improved tools were constantly being added to the plant. After passing over the top of White Downs through The firm progressed so much that in 1920 they were able Abinger, Gomshall and Shere a further hill of Combe Bot­ to bring out their own motor car which was known as the tom, which had a 1 in 5 gradient with a hairpin bend, was “Orpington Car”. This was a lOhp light car fitted with a 4 negotiated without the slightest hesitation although the cylinder l,496cc Coventry-Simplex engine with a 66mm road surface was exceptionally loose. The report goes on to bore, a 109.5mm stroke, fitted with 3 speeds and a reverse state that the handbrake was certainly positive in action but gearbox and using a ferodo-lined cone clutch driving an the footbrake, of the transmission type, was not entirely enclosed propellor shaft. The wheelbase was 8’ and the car satisfactory and was in fact in need of adjustment. was on sale at the price of £495, obtainable from the sole Despite its good write up approximately only 20 of the Smith & Milroy’s High Street Motor Works in 1920.

RAILWAY HISTORY Members interested in railway history may like to know that Fred Whyler has written an article outlining the development of the railway system in the Bromley area, covering the period from 1839 to 1923. The Local History Department of the Central Library at Bromley has a copy.n

LONDON’S LOST FORTS In the last decade of the 19th. century the War Department was perpetually anxious about the risk of French invasion and a possible attack on London. They wanted to construct a ring of defensive positions to protect the capital from the south and east but Parliament would not give approval. All the War Department could get Parliament to agree to was to approve proposals for the setting up of a chain of “mobilisation centres” to which the Imperial Volunteers (the then equivalent of the Territorial Army) could report in time of war for equipping and organising. Having got this approval, the War Department then went ahead with the construction of a line of small and large forts with magazines, fields of fire, casemates, loopholed iron shutters, firesteps, gates and doors all in good Beau Geste tradition, and all under the euphemistical label of “mobilisation centres”. These forts were constructed of concrete between 1890 and 1902 and each had near them a caretaker’s cottage of standard design with three distinctive chimneys, which are a clue to their use. The forts south of the River Thames were built at Henley Orpington Car Advert. 1920. Grove and Rewley Hill near Guildford, Denbies near Dorking, Boxhill, Betchworth, Reigate, East Merstham, Orpington Cars were produced, the last being in 1925. The Fosterdown, Woldingham, Westerham, Halstead and Far- reason was probably because mass-produced cars were ningham with North Weald the only fort north of the being turned out at a somewhat cheaper price. Thames. The business of Smith & Milroy continued on for some Although none of these forts are located in the London long time, and in 1927 had a shilling in the slot machine Borough of Bromley, the Advanced Depot (railhead) for installed for the sale of petrol. The partnership was dissol­ Westerham and Halstead would have been Orpington. ved in 1930 and Frank Smith retired in 1952. He then took Fort Halstead is now well known in the area, though I a 100 acre farm at Woodhurst with his son. Frank Smith wonder how many people know of it’s origin, while Fort died on Sunday, 14th April, 1963 aged 82, Westerham and Fort Farningham are shown on the map as There still is a garage and filling station on the site today “disused”. though the buildings are now somewhat altered. □ (Taken from ‘Concrete’, Feb. 1982 by Jack Barfoot) line in the area which would avoid the tunnel. This was the line from Nunhead to Beckenham Hill and Shortlands. Tunnel In 1884 the L C & D Company had been refused permis­ sion to build this line. In 1889 however a group of landow­ This tunnel which carries the railway between Penge East ners of the district to be served by the line, promoted an and Sydenham Hill, was built in 1863, when the London, independent Bill which was passed by Parliament. On 12th Chatham & Dover Railway Company, laid a line from Bec­ August 1889, a nominally independent Shortlands and kenham to Herne Hill. The bricks for the tunnel were made Nunhead Railway Company was incorporated to build the from the clay out of the ground when the tunnel was dug line. The first ordinary meeting of the shareholders was and also from the area known as Crampton Road. A Mr held in 1890 under the chairmanship of Sir John F. Len- Crampton was a director of the firm building the tunnel, nard. The directors of the new company were authorised to and gave his name to the road. Thirty-three million bricks raise the capital required to build the line. The area to be were used to line the tunnel which is 2,200 yards long and served by the railway was one specially suited for develop­ was built because the L C & D. Company had to have their ment. The principal landowners agreed to take the purch­ own route into London. Previously they had used other ased price of the land required for the railway, in the form railway company’s lines for which a toll had to be paid. So of shares in the company as they knew that the railway they built their own line into London and a very expensive facilities would add enormously to the value of their land. one it was too. The line through the tunnel was opened on By this new line the L C & D Company would have an alter­ 1st July, 1963. native route should the Penge tunnel become unusuable. Twenty six years later, in 1889, the Chairman of the L C The country through which this line was to be built & D. Company informed the shareholders at their half- included such areas as Brockley, Catford, Bellingham and yearly meeting, that the Penge tunnel was not in such a Beckenham. It was described as “pretty, undulating and sound and substantial condition as could be desired. He well wooded, the timber is exceptionally fine and plentiful, added that it was known by those who resided in the and the rising ground on each side of the line offers delight­ neighbourhood that the whole hill was slipping and some­ ful sites for residences”. The nearby fields were yielding day or other the tunnel would go with it. He did say that this hay crops and had waving corn. The large boards with catastrophe might not take place during the lifetime of his “land to let” seen in all directions showed that the owr listeners. Considering that this was the tunnel used by his of the property in the neighbourhood were fully alive to w / own company’s trains, there was not surprisingly, some benefits which the new line would confer on them. The L C confusion as to why the Chairman had made this startling & D Company estimated that every fair sized house served statement. It was thought that it would have a prejudicial by a railway meant directly or indirectly, a revenue of at effect upon the traffic using the line. One view was that he least £10 a year to the Company. As the villas at the Bec­ hoped to strengthen his company’s claim to build another kenham and Bromley end of the line were to be of a high class and generally taken by people who had business in London, this estimate was a low one. OLD BROMLEAGE NEWS LETTERS The contractors, Lucas & Aird, who built most if not all There are still some copies available of most of the earlier the local railways, built this Nunhead to Shortlands line issues of the BROMLEAGE News Letters and details of very quickly. About 750 men were employed on the work these with the main contents are listed below. for which nine million bricks were required. Three steam If through any reason you have missed or mislaid the navvies, 4 locomotives and a large stud of splendid horses, copy that interests you, if you will send a stamped addres­ for which Lucas & Aird, were famous were used. The line sed envelope (size 9” x 4”) to the editor, John Edwards, at was opened in July 1892, with stations at Beckenham Hill 150 Tubbenden Lane, Orpington, quoting the year and and Ravensbourne, and so on through to Shortlands. It was month of the copy required it will be sent to you. to be an entirely new service of about 35 trains daily each May 1975 Hayes Church — Christ Church, Beckenham way and would extend from Shortlands through Bromley to — Sundridge— Bromley College. . It was not to affect the working of the main line Jan. 1976 Sir Robert Geoffery’s Homes, through Shortlands, Beckenham Junction, Kent House, — Old Manor House, Beckenham — Penge East and so on through the Penge tunnel, which was Thomas Young. now reported to be as safe if not safer than it was when it April 1976 Farnborough Tombstones. was first built. June 1976 Bromley Palace — Italian Villa, Elstree Hill, Fred Whyler. y Bromley— . Sept. 1976 Plaistow Lodge and Lord Kinnaird. Dec. 1976 Lady Margaret Hospital, Bromley — THE SOUTHERN HEIGHT LIGHT RAILWAY Mayfield Coach House, Orpington. The proposed Southern Heights Light Railway, subject of June 1977 Shortlands History— Recollections of a full length article in our Annual Publication No. 6, was Bromley and . the subject of the following verses which appeared in The Sept. 1977 Chislehurst Water Tower — Recollections of District Times of 11th. June, 1926. These verses sum up the 70 years ago (Keston and Hayes area). conditions made for the completion of the line, and were Dec. 1977 Travelling Fish Shop of Orpington — George attributed to ‘A.W.B.’ Grote, D . C. L., LL. D of Shortlands — Gypsies. If everything is made secure, “But do not fail to come to terms April 1979 Miss E.O. Parr of Bickley. And all the cash is provided, With your more important neighbours; Aug. 1979 F. MedhurstLtd.— George Wythes of If it is absolutely sure Agreement with gigantic firms Bickley Park. That you who have provided May ease a pygmy’s labours, To meet a want, will fill a need Be not precipitate, be still, Dec. 1979 High Elms Estate of Farnborough— John With procrastination, If you would rest in clover, Evelyn at Bromley — Old Bromley (from The Higher Power will say “Proceed, All obligations you’ll fulfill Vestry minutes). Achieve your inspiration”. Before two years are over”. Feb. 1980 Listed Buildings of — Did Marlowe write Shakespeare’s plays at “Discuss all new town building schemes Chislehurst? — Baloonist Cecil V. Shadbolt. With those who have to plan them, Consider bridges, roads and streams, Sept. 1980 Early Post Offices at Orpington — Penge And how you are to span them; c.1750— More about Marlowe—Richmal And if, respecting local rights Crompton. You walk with righteous cunning. In days to come, those Southern Heights Mar. 1981 Scadbury and the Walsinghams. May see your engines running” . June 1981 Diary of William Emmett, J.P.— Manorof Little Orpington— NorthEndFarm, . Designed and produced by Raven Studios Ltd., 5 Rectory Road, Beckenham, Kent on behalf of The Local History Society for the London Borough of Bromley. Editorial contributions to: J.W. Edwards, 150 Tubbenden Lane, Orpington.