A View of the Parish

Your Online Parish Clerk for Bromley is:  VACANT.  

Bromley is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of Dartford.  The church is named for St. Peter and St. Paul with registers commencing 1558.

Bromley, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred, in Kent.  The town stands on high ground, rising from the Ravensbourne river, adjacent to the Farnborough railway, 10 miles southeast of St Paul’s, London.  It commands good views to the west, southwest, and south;  stands in a beautiful country, with rapid increase of fine residences;  is a seat of petty sessions and a polling place;  and has a railway station, a post office under London, SE., a new town hall, good inns, a church, three dissenting chapels, a college for clergymen’s widows, a National school, and a literary institute.

The church is chiefly perpendicular English, mainly rebuilt in 1829, and consisting of nave, chancel, and aisles;  has, at the west end, an ancient embattled tower, surmounted by a cupola;  and contains a Norman font, a brass of 1356, a monument of Dr. Hawkesworth, the chief writer of the "Adventurer", and the graves of Bishop Pearce, Bishop Tonge, and the wife of Dr. Johnson.

The college is a large brick structure, founded in 1666, by Bishop Warner, and repaired in 1765;  gives residences and support to 40 widows;  and has an income of £1,993.  A drainage system, for the town was projected in 1869.

The parish comprises 4,646 acres.  Real property in 1860, £28,565.  Rental in 1865, £46,771.  Rateable value in 1861, £28,565;  in 1865, £37,810.  Population in 1861, 1,090;  in 1865, 1,338.

The manor was given, in the 8th century, by Ethelbert, King of Kent, to the bishops of Rochester;  continued, with some slight interruptions, to be held by them till a few years ago;  and belongs now to Coles Child, Esq..  A palace was built on it, by one of the bishops, soon after the Conquest;  underwent improvements by successive bishops;  was visited by Walpole and Pope;  and gave place, in 1776, to a new palace, a plain brick mansion, now the residence of the present lord of the manor.

The parish ceased, at the recent re-arrangement of sees, to be in the diocese of Rochester;  and the residence of the bishops was then fixed at Danbury in Essex.

A chalybeate spring is in the palace grounds;  and another spring was there till lately, called St. Blaize’s well, which had anciently a small oratory, and was a resort of pilgrims, in the Romish times, at Whitsuntide.  An old moated mansion, at the southern extremity of the town, belonged successively to the Bagnels, the Clarks, and the Simpsons;  and some remains of it exist under the name of Simpsons place.  Plaistow Lodge, Bickley Park and Sundridge, are in the neighbourhood.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £160.  Patron, the Bishop of Worcester.  The vicarages of Plaistow, Bickley, and Bromley Common are separate benefices.

The sub-district contains the parishes of Bromley, Beckenham, Hayes, West Wickham, Keston, Down, Cudham and Knockholt.  Acres, 23,118.  Population in 1861, 11,755.  Houses, 2,257.  The district comprehends also the sub-district of Chiselhurst, containing the parishes of Chislehurst, Farnborough, Chelsfield, Orpington, St. Mary Cray, St. Paul Cray, Foots Cray and North Cray.  Acres, 39,927.  Poor rates in 1866, £14,191.  Population in 1861, 20,368.  Houses, 3,851.  Marriages in 1866, 162;  births, 871 of which 35 were illegitimate;  deaths, 464 of which 163 were at ages under 5 years and 15 at ages above 85.  Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 967;  births, 5,414;  deaths, 3,078.

The places of worship in 1851 were 17 of the Church of England, with 5,489 sittings;  5 of Independents, with 1,010 sittings;  4 of Baptists, with 630 sittings;  10 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,239 sittings;  and 1 of the Wesleyan Methodist Association, with 16 sittings.

The schools were 20 public day schools, with 1,717 scholars;  24 private day schools, with 395 scholars;  17 Sunday schools, with 1,179 scholars;  and 1 evening school for adults, with 19 scholars.

The workhouse is in Farnborough.

The hundred is in the lathe of Sutton at Hone;  bears the name of Bromley and Beckenham;  and contains only the parishes of Bromley and Beckenham.  Acres, 8,521.  Population in 1861, 7,629.  Houses, 1,452.

Bickley, a chapelry, with a rail station, in Bromley parish, Kent;  1-1/2 miles east of Bromley.  Population in 1861, 473.  Living a vicarage.  The church was built in 1865, at a cost of £10,000.  There are many fine villas.^1
1John Marius Wilson, comp. The Imperial Gazatteer of England and Wales.  (London, England:  A. Fullerton & Co., 1870).

For additional information concerning Bromley Borough you might wish to visit the Bromley Borough Local History Society website.

• Monumental Inscriptions
• Christenings 1558-1640
• Christenings 1641-1700
• Christenings 1701-1775
• Christenings 1776-1900
• Marriages 1558-1640
• Marriages 1641-1700
• Marriages 1641-1700
• Marriages 1776-1900
• Burials 1558-1640
• Burials 1641-1700
• Burials 1641-1700
• Burials 1776-1900
• IGI batch #s, Boyds, Pallots, BVRI, NBI
• Published Records

• 1801-1831


• 1841


• 1851


• 1861


• 1871


• 1881


• 1891 (Bickley only)


• 1901

• Settlement Certificates
• Removal Orders
• Bastardy Examinations
• Parish-assisted Immigrants
• Churchwarden's Accounts
• Overseer's Accounts
• Surveyor's Accounts
• Workhouse Records
• Pew Rents
• Donors' Rolls
• Vestry Minutes
• Bishops' Visitations
• Parish Magazines
• Parish Histories

• AD index 1448-1857
• CC index 1448-1857
• PCC 1338-1858
• PPR 1858-1925
• Depositions
• Quarter Sessions
• Militia Lists
• Muster Rolls
• Description Books
• Tithe Apportionment c1830s
• Transportations
• Protestation Rolls c1641-1643
• Oaths of Allegiance c1720s

• Poll Tax
• Hearth Tax
• Window Tax
• Hair Powder Tax
• Land Tax Assessments 1780-1831
• Land Tax Assessments 1799-1805

• Pigot's Directory of Kent, 1824
• Illustrated Guide to the London and Dover Railway, 1846
• History, Gazetteer & Directory of Kent, Vol. II, 1847
• Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent ... , 1855. [Part 1: Counties & Localities]
• Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent ... , 1855. [Part 2: Court & Trade Directories]
• Melville & Co.'s Directory of Kent, 1858
• Kelly's Directory of Kent, 1882
• Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey & Sussex, 1891. [Part 1. Kent: County & Localities]
• Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey & Sussex, 1891. [Part 2. Kent: Court & Trade Directories]
• Kelly's Directory of Kent, 1903. [Part 1: County & Localities]
• Kelly's Directory of Kent, 1903. [Part 2: Private Resident & Trade Directories]
• Kelly's Directory of Kent, 1913. [Part 1: County & Localities]
• Kelly's Directory of Kent, 1913. [Part 2: Private Resident & Trade Directories]

• Parish Map
• Deeds, Mortgages, etc.
• Rated Property Returns
• Returns of owners of land, 1873
• Manor Court Baron
• Manor Tenancy Rolls
• Manors, Castles & Holdings of Significance

• War Memorials
• Apprenticeships
• Immigration
• School Records
• Notable Events
• Nefarious Activities
• Newspapers