KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY -- RESEARCH Studying and sharing Kent's past Homepage Bromley, Kent with Index of names and places at end These webpages are designed to be viewed with the screen resolution set at 800 x 600 and text size at normal. HOW TO Back to Churchyards listed Some Monumental Inscriptions of St Peter & St Paul Church, Noted by Richard Holworthy Published in The British Archivists Vol 1 Sept 1914 to June 1915. Kindly typed up for the website by Pat Tritton Preface. In the "Gentleman’s Magazine" for 1829, Part II, page 201, there appears a long letter, signed "Viator Antiquarius", relating to the restoration of Bromley Church. It reads: "Passing through the town of Bromley in Kent the other day, I found the old church there nearly pulled down, nothing remaining but the well-built Gothic tower and portions of the side walls. The gates of the churchyard were fortified with a palisade, so that it was impossible for an antiquary to enter and satisfy himself what might be the probable result to ancient vestiges in the Church of such desecration and destructive appearances …"/. This same "desecration" – usually called "restoration" – has been the fate of most churches, but many have suffered to a far greater extent than that of Bromley. Certainly, several interesting monuments in the church have disappeared, but the majority were replaced. One very important brass was discovered embedded in the masonry and preserved, though not placed on the wall until 1884, i.e. 55 years after its discovery. This small brass, which is dated 1361, is to the memory of Isabella, wife of Richard LACER, a wealthy merchant and mayor of London. He was lord of the manor of Bromley, which he purchased, with his first wife Juliana, in 1333 from Sir CONAN, son of Henry, and seven years later Sir Thomas LATYMER released all his right in the manor to Lacer. In 1361 a terrible plague broke out in France and spread to London, carrying off nearly 60,000 people, and it would appear that both Richard and Isabella were among the victims, for Richard’s will is dated Sunday, 25 July 1361, and that of his wife on the following Thursday, wherein she is described as "widow", which, as we see from the brass, was also the day of her death. By their wills both desired to be buried in Bromley Church. Some of the inscriptions, long since disappeared, are printed on pages 1 and 2, but others are to be found in Thorpe’s "Registrum Roffense", while in Weaver’s "Ancient Funeral Monuments" mention is made, inter alia, of the "portraiture on the Church Wall of Richard de WENDOVER, Bishop of Rochester and Parson of this Town, a holy and virtuous man, who was consecrated in 1238, and died in 1250". He was not, however, buried in Bromley, but at Westminster by the King’s command. Elizabeth, the wife of Samuel JOHNSON, was buried in the church, and the inscription bears the date 1753, whereas it should be 1752 – an oversight one would not expect to escape the notice of the greatest critic of modern times! Time would not permit a comparison to be made of the dates on the monuments with the registers; it would therefore be advisable to check them should there be any doubt on this point, especially as many stones in the churchyard are in a very dilapidated condition, and in such cases misreading is only too easy. As the churchyard is closed there will be no further interments, except in cases of family graves. To assist those wishing to trace particular graves, the inscriptions have been divided into five sections, each section being separated by a footpath. Section I commences in the south-west corner of the yard (from a single grave) and, gradually widening, reaches to a path running directly south from the lych gate. Section II covers the remainder of the graves on the west of the church, and is divided from Section I by a narrow path running from the south entrance to the church to a small gate in the south-west corner of the yard. Sections III and IV are plots adjoining the church on the south and east, and north respectively. Section V covers the plot to the east of the path running south from the lych gate. All inscriptions have been taken in the same order, i.e. south to north. I cannot conclude without acknowledging my warmest thanks to the Venerable Donald TAIT, Archdeacon of Rochester, formerly Vicar of Bromley, and the Rev. Canon WILSON, the present Vicar, for their kindness in granting me permission to copy the inscriptions, and to Mr George HARRIS, the Sexton, for his great assistance, without which many could never have been copied. R.H. INTERIOR OF CHURCH. The following are not now to be seen, some having disappeared altogether, while others were covered by pews when the chancel was added in 1884, but have been collected from various printed sources. 1. Ici gist Mestre Walter de HENCHE Qi fut persone de Bromleghe. 1360. 2. Here lieth interred the body of John TRAVELL of London, Esqr., who had Timothee his onely wife interred near this place, anno 1637, he remaineing a widower until the year 1652. departed this life the 17th November, in the same yeare and in the 64th yeare of his age, leaving issue John, Alexander and Elizabeth. 3. Here lyeth the body of Cattalina NEESHAM, the relict of Thomas Neesham, late rector of Stock Dabourne in the county of Surrey, who departed this life the 11th day of May, anno domini 1676. 4. Non procul ab hinc quiescent cineres Jacobi YOUNG, Lond. mercat. & Elizab. olim conjugis ejus dilectissimar haec vitam hanc molestam commutavit in meliorem 5 die Maij, anno domini 1678. ille vero mortalitatem exuit 4 die Decembris, anno salutis 1687. Undecim liberi his fuere prognati, ex quibus quatuor fily, viz. Jacobus, Johannes, Paulus & Alexander, una etiam filia dicta Lucea, nunc superstites existunt. Arms: 2 coats per pale, 1st erm. on a bend cotized sa. 3 griffins heads erased Or, langued gules; 2nd parted per pale, az. and gu. on a bend Or, betw. 2 eagles displayed ar. 3 mullets sa. in a chief of the 4th 3 garbs vert. 5. On a gravestone: Anthonye CHALTHROP, of the parish, esqr. departed this lyfe the 19th day of Julie, anno 1594 being the 79th yere of his adge. He married the daughter of Mr Nicholas HARRIS, of London, gentleman. He lived with her sixteen years full, by whom he had seven sonnes and nine daughters, whereof weare living at his decease, Clement, Henry, Judeth, and Johane. His body is interred under the stone, which is layde at the charge of his executors. "Christ is to me life, and deathe is to me advantage". Phil. i. 21. Arms: 6 coats quarterly, 1 checky, a fesse, 2. 2 mullets in chief. 3. 3 dragons passant; 4th fesse betw. 6 cross crosslets. 5 defaced. 6 as 1. 6. Hic jacet Samuel THORNHILL quartus, Johannis Thornhill, nuper de Bromley, in comitatu Cant. militis, filius, qui, anno actatis suae primo, menseque nono, ex hac vita (flosculos tanquam) dicessit vicessimo quarto Junij 1647. 7. His requiescit Francisca, Johannis THORNEHILL, equities aurati, per Aliciam uxorem ejus infantula, quae languentes horas cum aeterna commutavit Gloria … die Decembris … o salutis. M.D. c.xi. 8. Here lyeth interred the body of Thomas WOODSTOCK, late of London, carpenter, borne in this parish. He dyed the 15th day of June, anno domini 1694. aged 51 years. "Stay, reader, stand and spend a tear;/Think on my state that now lyes here;/And as thou stand’st and read’st on me,/Think on the glass that runs for thee". IN THE NAVE. 9. Here lies the body of Mrs Susan MESGRETT who died March the 9th 1765 aged ../ years. 10. Hic conduntur reliquiae Elizabethae, Antiqua JARVISIORUM gent Peatlingae, apud Leicestrienses ortae; Formosae, cultae, ingeniosae, piae, Uxoris, primis nuptiis, Henrici PORTER, Secundis, Samuelis JOHNSON: Qui multum amatam diuque defletam Hoc lapide contexit Obiit Londini, Mense Mart, A.M. MDCCLIII*. (*Entry in the Registers: "Elizabeth Johnson, March 26th 1752, of the Parish of St. Bride, London". It will be noticed that by a singular mistake the date recorded on the stone is 1753). 11. On a brass plate fixed to a gravestone: Here lyeth the body of Jane BODENHAM ye daughter of John BREWTON of Southwark, gent. & wife to Henry Bodenham of Folston, in ye county of Wiltshire, esqr by whom she had issue 1 daughter & 2 sones, Ann, Phillip & John. She died ye 12th of Novr 1625, at ye age of xxi. "Me, Nuptus, Natus, frater, materve, paterve,/Orbam non plorent orbis; ad astra feror./Se, Nuptus, Natus, frater, materque, paterque,/Orbibus astrorum defleat orbus adhuc./Dum, Nuptum, Natos, fratrem, matremque, patremque,/Quero, beat sociam, nata, breta, matrem". 12. On a brass plate fixed to a gravestone: Hereunder lyeth buried the bodye of Mr John KING, of London, Draper, and free of the Company of Clothworkers, who departed this worlde the fifth of September, Anno Dom., 1603 aetatis suae LI. He had to wife Susan WOODWARDE by whom he lefte issue then livinge Henry, James, John and Elizabeth. 13. In memory of Mrs Elizabeth YOUNG hereunder interred the late loving and beloved wife of Mr James Young of London merchant, unto whom shee did beare eleven childen, 4 sonnes and 1 daughter now surviving. She was daughter of John Travel of London, esqr & Timothy his wife. She died the 5th of May, 1678, aged 44 yeares.