Keston

Keston, a parish in Bromley district, Kent;  3-1/4 miles south-by-east of Bromley rail station.  It contains, on its northwest border, two villages 3 and 3-1/2 miles south-by-east of the rail station;  includes, in its centre, an open high common, with a fine view;  is within the jurisdiction of the metropolitan police;  and has a post office under Bromley, London SE.  Real property in 1860 was £4,012.

The property is divided among a few.  The manor belongs to Col. J. F. Lennard.  Keston House is the seat of Mrs. Carter;  Forest Lodge of Lady Caroline Legge;  and Holwood Park, of Lord Cranworth.  Holwood was the seat of William Pitt.

A Roman camp was on Holwood Hill;  and many Roman relics have been found.  The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £272, with a habitable glebe house.  Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury.  The church is small, and possesses little interest.  There are chapels for Independents and Wesleyans, and a national school.¹

Holwood Hill

¹John Marius Wilson, comp.  The Imperial Gazatteer of England and Wales. (London, England: A. Fullerton & Co., 1870).

²Edward Hasted, ed. and comp.  Parishes: Keston, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 2 (1797), pp. 60-78.

³Pigot's Directory, 1839

⁴Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey & Sussex, 1891. [Part 1. Kent: County & Localities]

Keston Bibliography

-- various. 'Archaeologia Cantiana'. Publisher: Kent, England: Kent Archaeological Society, various dates.  Note:  The following volumes can be found on archive.org:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (1876), 11, 12, 13 (1880), 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 35, vol. 1907 supplement.

• General references to Keston:
  vol. 10, pp. 157-158
• vol. 12, p 236
• vol. 13, pp. 1-5, 7, 16, 258, 310
• vol. 15, p. 100, 279
• vol. 22, p. 308
• vol. 24, pp. 255, 257
• vol. 29, p. 65
• vol. 31, p. 157
• vol. 59, pp. 7, 10, 12, 15
• Blacknese Farm, map of, vol. 81, p. 37
• British oppidum in Holwood Park, vol. 14, p. 90
• church, vol. 64, p. 110f
• Church, vol. 87, p. 40;  vol. 119, pp. 161, 295, 303
• Church, bequest to by Sir Henry Heydon, vol. 78, p. 15
• civil parish, end of, vol. 81, p. 31-32
• courts held, vol. 78, p. 10
• Court farm, vol. 13, p. 5
• estate boundaries, Anglo-Saxon, vol. 115, pp. 145-146
• estate map, 1630, vol. 77, p. 182
• Field Club, vol. 64, p. 172
• Field Club, winding up of, vol. 81, p. lviii
• fines relating to Keston, vol. 11, p. 323
• Foxhill, vol. 14, p. 85
• Holwood, vol. 54, p. 33;  vol. 59, p. 12
• Holwood House, vol. 69, p. 96
• Holwood Park roman sites, vol. 61, p. 124;  vol. 69, p. xlv;  vol. 86, p. 74;  vol. 71, p. xlv;  vol. 72, p. xlviii;  vol. 73, p. xlviii;  vol. 72, p. lxiii;  vol. 85, p. 194;  vol. 100, p. 393;  vol. 101, p. 333
• Holwood Park, iron age camp, vol. 75, pp. 179-180;  vol. 69, pp. xlv, 96, 76, xlviii;  vol. 78, p. 74;  vol. 84, p. 157
• inventory of church goods, vol. 9, p. 275
• Keston Common, Promontory Fort, vol. 45, pp. 124-128
• Kestane Manor (Keston Court Farm), vol. 69, pp. 96-97;  vol. 78, p. 2;  vol. 79, pp. 16-30
• non-conformity, 1676, vol. 94, p. 68
• Noriomagus, site of, vol. 10, p. 171
• Population totals 1641-1801, vol. 94, pp. 64, 68
• rector of Keston, vol. 13, p. 10
• Roman burials, vol. 50, pp. 164-165

Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1990) [1983]. London 2: South. The Buildings of England. Penguin Books. p. 187. ISBN 0-14-071047-7

Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III. Close Rolls, Edward III: December 1376, volume 14: 1374-1377 (1913), pp. 423. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=106459&strquery=keston

Coles Finch, William (1933). Watermills and Windmills. London: C W Daniel Company. pp. 229, 315.

Deeds: C.7901 - C.8000, A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds: Volume 6 (1915), pp. 537-553. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=64509&strquery=keston

European Magazine, vol. xxii. p. 416 - vol. xxxvii. p. 184.  Notice of Holwood House, the Seat of the Right Hon. W. Pitt, with an engraving.

Gentlemen's Magazine, May, 1829.  Account of some Antiquities found in War Bank Field, Keston, by A. J. Kempe, with a plate.

Gentlemen's Magazine, Sept., 1832.  Account of an Ancient Oak found on Keston Common, by A. J. Kempe

Hone's Table-Book, vol. ii, pp. 623 and 643.  Account of Holwood, in the Parish of Keston, the Residence of John Ward, Esq., formerly of the late Right Hon. William Pitt; also an account of Caesar's Camp, with a cut.

Hone's Table-Book, vol. 88, pp. 33 and 47.  Account of Keston Cross and of William Blake, an ostler there, with two cuts.

Neale's Gentlemen's Seats, vol. iv, Second Series.  Account of Holwood, the Seat of John Ward, Esq., with a plate.

Vetusta Monumenta, vol. iv..  Plan of the Roman Camp at Holwood Hill.

West, Jenny (1973). The Windmills of Kent. London: Charles Skilton Ltd.. pp. 49�52. SBN 284-98534-1.

William, Edward (1984). Keston parish album: a history in photographs. Kent : E. Williams, 1984

Wilson, Thomas (1797). An Accurate Description of Bromley in Kent. p. 68.

Location of Records

The following list of records is not intended to be exhaustive.  There are many records that are awaiting discovery in archive offices throughout Kent and England.  This list is intended only to set out those records that are available via at least two relatively easy-to-access avenues.  If you have used or discover a record that would be of benefit to other researchers, that is not on this list, please send me an email with the details of the archive - name, address and archival call number.

Census | Church of England | Non-Conformist | Parish chest | Workhouse and Poor Law | Land | Assizes and Sessions | School

Census

Church Records, Church of England

Church Records, Non-Conformist

Parish chest records

Workhouse and Poor Law Records

Land Records

Assizes and Sessions Records
(poor laws, jail terms, oaths, and other municipal and public records)

School Records